Profilers vs Nature
by cause.A.scene
Summary: COMPLETE Two of our beloved agents find themselves stuck in the Colorado mountains after a car accident. They must fight to survive and make sacrifices for each other as they attempt to find help and a way home. Not a pairing, just whump and friendship!
1. Prologue

**AN: **So, here's the newest addition to my CM stories. Interestingly enough, this first chapter along with the next three, have been sitting in my documents for almost a year! Every now and then I'd go back to them, but then I'd stop. I really like it so far though so I figured, after making sure I could keep it going, that I would actually share it with all of you. Now, I know that this is another common storyline (but they all start from the same basis, anyway... kidnapping, accident, romance... etc.) but I hope this one will be different in some way or other.

**Pairing: **NONE! Ha romance fics just aren't my thing, but the characters will inevitably get close so if you're desperate for them to be together, I guess you could look at this as a pre-romance.

**Warnings: **Um.. nothing really. Maybe a mild curse word here and there? I don't like to do things that do not really happen in the show, and our guys don't curse that much in the show so I don't make them do it in my stories. That's my policy ;) Other than that... a little blood... :)

Oh and I tried to do a lot of research for this story so I really hope it paid off or, if nothing else, seems plausible. Finally, this is self-beta'd so all mistakes are my own.

**Disclaimer: **Tis not mine, sadly. If it were, Reid would be in for quite the surprise!

I think that's it! So... enjoy the first chapter ooooof:

**Profilers vs. Nature**

* * *

Numbness and grass.

That was the best way he could describe it. Pure and utter numbness throughout his entire body and a strong scent of grass and earth filled his nostrils. He couldn't for the life of him remember where he was or how he had gotten to this particular point in time, but he figured that opening his eyes would help fix at least one of those problems. However, the act of opening his eyes, normally a simple task, was proving to be strangely, and alarmingly, difficult.

It wasn't until the pain started to set in did Dr. Spencer Reid begin to panic. It seemed to start in his lower extremities then slowly make its way up, causing him to ache just about everywhere. With this, he forced his eyes opened, which he immediately regretted as the sunlight pierced through them setting his skull on fire. He clenched them shut once again until the searing pain eased, then attempted to reopen them. The pain returned, though not nearly as intensely, and he had to blink a few times before he could see clearly, but he eventually managed to get them open.

However, as his eyes wandered over his current surroundings, he began to wonder if maybe it would have been better to simply leave them shut.

He was in a car. Or, what was left of one. It was completely totaled, and for good reason as it apparently had gone over the side of a mountain. The SUV was literally on its side with Reid's head almost lying in the grass that was protruding through his broken window.

Well, that at least explained the smell. And, he had obviously been in an accident, but that explained absolutely nothing else.

For example, where was the driver? Who had been with him? He was still buckled into the passenger side, so clearly he had not been driving. So, who was missing and more importantly, why were they missing?

These questions scared him more than anything else. This was clearly an FBI issued SUV which therefore meant that one of his colleges and friends had been in the accident right along with him, yet they were nowhere to be seen. Had they been ejected? That didn't make sense because they all wore seatbelts. They had seen enough accidents to know the seatbelt was essential. Statistically speaking, however, 59% of car accident fatalities were not wearing seatbelts. That combined with the percentage of deaths in rollover crashes being 82%, Reid was seriously hoping his unknown companion had managed to leave the vehicle after the crash.

With that thought, he began to take inventory of himself so that hopefully he could begin a more thorough investigation of what exactly had happened.

First and most obvious was the concussion. Most likely a fairly mild one as he was able to wake up and the pain and nausea was not bad enough to force his eyes to remain closed. The next blatantly obvious ailment was his right arm. It was lying under him, covered in blood, at a quite noticeably unhealthy angle. The extremity as a whole was in considerable amounts of pain but if he had to guess, he'd say the most damage was done to his elbow.

Other than those two, he had glass stuck in various parts of his body though none, thankfully, seemed deep enough to be doing much damage and he'd wager at least two of his ribs were broken and a couple others cracked and/or bruised. Then, of course, there were several lacerations and bruises all over his body, but they were certainly bearable.

Bottom line, he was in a lot of pain but his neck seemed fine and so far, his back did as well so he figured he was good enough to move.

First thing was first; remove the seatbelt. It had certainly done its job and he was thankful, but it now needed to go. He attempted to move his right arm but winced at the extreme pain it caused throughout his entire body. He let it fall limply back to his side and took several deep breaths before trying again. This time, he bit his lip and pushed through the pain and finally undid the seatbelt.

This, as expected, caused even more pain and mostly to his aching side. At this point, Reid decided he would do everything possible to accept the fact that pain was going to be a part of anything he did and would therefore do his best not to acknowledge it.

With the seatbelt undone, he worked up the courage to move himself in such a way that would allow him to stand up and exit the SUV. And with this thought and glancing up at the driver's door, he realized that it was open! Which more than likely meant that someone had already crawled out of there!

This thought filled Reid with newfound hope and adrenaline which allowed him to once again push through great amounts of pain and, with the use of different consoles within the vehicle, he was finally able to stand up.

A minor setback occurred, however, when an extreme case of vertigo and nausea kicked in and Reid suddenly found that he was unable to hold back whatever food he had eaten. He at least managed to aim at the grass and not in the vehicle itself but all the same, with the not-so-wonderful smell of vomit now filling the interior of the car, Reid focused even harder on getting the hell out.

With his right arm cradled as best he could, Reid reached up with his left hand and grabbed the outside of the driver's door where the window should have been, then placed his left foot on the console between the two chairs, and pushed up.

Through his efforts, he felt something drip on his forehead and realized that he was slicing his hand on broken glass. Despite this, he continued until his head was sticking through the window and he could finally see out. He didn't get a good look because he still needed to get out of the car, but he was quite obviously in a wooded area and at the bottom of a mountain.

He continued to push and pull, trying desperately to ignore the pain, until he was finally sitting on the side of the SUV. With every molecule in his body begging to collapse, Reid once again worked up what little bit of energy he had left, and slid off the car.

He fell in a heap on the earth below, completely limp. Grass filled his nostrils once again and he found darkness gathering around the corners of his eyes. He didn't want to fight it. He was exhausted and he wanted to escape the intense pain in any way possible. With the last desperate thoughts of the unknown driver, the unknown friend, Reid fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

**EN: **GASP! Who else was with him and where are they? Hehe, thanks for reading, hopefully you plan to come back and, if you really liked it (or really didn't), click that little review button and let a sister know! Thanks!


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: **Sorry this took a bit of time to be posted, but life is busy! Finished the last of my exams with AP Bio (it was horrid) and now just getting ready for all the graduation stuff. But anyway, I liked seeing everyone guess at who was with Reid and I think only one of you guessed right. Ha, so sorry if some of you are disappointed.

**Note: **Okay,so with stories like this that need a lot of research, I do just that. But research is only half the battle. The other part of trying to tie up any "well why can't they just do this?" or "they could.... and get help that way..." And there is a lot of stuff like that so I did my best but if you still find one major whole, then you can if you want and I'll change it if I can. But I am saying right now, it's possible I missed something.

Same stuff as before... Here it goes!

* * *

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

They were in the middle of nowhere, both injured and no phones. No one even knew where they had gone and it was getting late. Prentiss had little doubt that they would be staying the night in this godforsaken forest.

She hadn't ventured far from the wrecked SUV. It had killed her to leave Reid, but she hadn't been gone long and she found it absolutely necessary to try to find any means of rescue as soon as possible because Reid definitely needed it. She did too, of course, but Reid was still unconscious when she had left and that was never a good sign.

Emily looked around at what seemed like endless acres of trees and other forms of plant life before the voice in the back of her head became too overwhelming, forcing her to hurry back to her friend. She limped back, as her ankle and leg both felt terrible, and her head throbbed but it was nothing too bad.

She was able to see the car and decided that nothing had changed and continued her journey back. Images of Reid lying there with blood all around him flashed through her head. Emily had checked his pulse before leaving and had tried to wake him, but Reid didn't wake up and his pulse, while not ideal, wasn't unstable enough to be too worrisome. And on top of all that, she had no idea what the extents of Reid's injuries were. She knew that one small movement could result in his death, so despite how hard it was to leave him there Prentiss figured it was the best course of action for the time being.

Now with only a few feet between her and the SUV, Emily quickened her pace. She wanted to see the young agent again and make sure he was still alive. She stopped in front of the SUV and looked in through the windshield and her heart nearly stopped when she realized Reid wasn't there.

Different scenarios raced through her head and adrenaline filled her body immediately.

"Reid!" she yelled frantically, running away from the vehicle some, then back towards it.

"Reid! Where are you?"

She began making her way around the car, going towards the back then back around to the underside of it. And then she saw him: a lifeless heap lying about a foot or two from the vehicle, completely motionless.

"Reid!" she yelled once more, dropping to her knees before the young man. "Wake up Reid, come on."

She gently placed her hand on Reid's shoulder and shook ever so softly, not wanting to hurt him. She couldn't help but feel slightly relieved. Reid had made it out on his own. Yes, it had apparently been too much on him but this meant that he was well enough to move and that was a good thing. Now if he would only wake up.

"Reid… please. Wake up. "

Just then, Reid let out a small, strangled cough but it was enough to make Emily's heart race.

"That's it, Reid. Open your eyes," she said softly as she watched his every movement.

He looked terrible. He was covered in blood, though it wasn't an alarming amount just yet; mostly from cuts and lacerations but a few were from more serious wounds. The circles around his eyes seemed darker and his skin paler. It was obvious he had a concussion, but Emily thought she had one herself too. Possibly the most alarming of Reid's ailments was his short breaths.

"Reid, look at me," Emily said, now supporting Reid. She waited for a minute for the younger agent to slowly turn to look at her. But she realized what was coming and moved out of the way in time for Reid to vomit on the ground beside him. After this, Emily sensed how wiped out he was and gently lowered him back to the ground.

"Talk to me, Reid. What all hurts?" she asked, her head hovering right above his.

Emily felt her concern grow when Reid's eyes seemed to have a hard time focusing and his eyelids started to droop.

"No, no,"she said, patting Reid's cheek as softly as possible. "You have to stay awake."

Reid coughed again. "Emily? Wha' happened?" he murmured.

"We were in an accident. How do you feel?"

A moment of silence. "Like I was tossed over the side of a mountain."

She was temporarily confused but when she realized that Reid was rather lucid and had a smirk on his face, she joked "Smartass. You're not hurt at all, are you?"

Reid smiled and looked around, then clenched his eyes shut.

"Yeah, take it easy for a little while," Emily advised. "You've definitely got a concussion. But I need to know what else is wrong."

"Where were you?"

"I went to see if there was anything around. I was only gone for a few minutes," she added, still feeling guilty about leaving Reid and even more so now knowing that he had woken up and had to get himself out of the car.

"And?"

"Nothing but trees."

"Our phones?"

"Both of them are broken. I checked."

Silence fell over them for a moment as they realized the situation they were in. Emily kept eyeing Reid, who was still sprawled out in the grass, and was worried at how he still seemed very disconnected with his thoughts.

"Reid, did you tell anyone where we were going?"

Reid looked at her for a minute, then looked away. "I want to sit up," was all he said right before he immediately began to struggle to sit up. Right away, Emily went to his side and began helping.

"You sure about this? I think you need to rest some more…"

But Reid didn't stop. And when he was sitting up, with the help of Emily, his breathing became faster but was still shallow.

"I don't remember any of it."

"What?" she asked, her heart racing a little more.

"I… I can't remember anything about today. I remember the case of a missing girl… uh, Casey Wills, but nothing else."

Emily sensed the panic in his voice and knew memory loss was even harder for someone like Reid who had an elephant's memory.

"Hey, it's okay. Memory loss is common with concussions, you know that. I'm sure most, if not all, of it will come back to you."

This seemed to calm him down enough and Emily watched as he attempted to take a deep breath, and then winced in pain.

"What is it? What hurts?"

Reid shook his head. "I'm fine."

"Reid…"

"What about you? How badly are you hurt?"

"I'm not the one on the ground having a hard time breathing. Now tell me what's hurting," Emily demanded. "You obviously have a concussion and something is wrong with your arm, but what else?"

Reid bit his lip. "I'm pretty sure I broke some ribs and it hurts to take a deep breath."

Emily nodded slowly. It was perhaps not the best thing he could have said, because that more than likely meant that one of his ribs were broken and displaced enough to be putting pressure on his lung. However, it could always be worse. "Okay," she said softly, knowing he knew the how bad this could be as well. "Just be very careful so you don't move the rib any more. No jarring around."

Reid chuckled. "I don't think you have to worry."

"Anything else?" Emily asked again, wanting to be sure they covered all bases.

"No, I don't think so," he replied. "What about you?"

She sighed. "I hurt my ankle and leg, and I think I have a minor concussion but neither is too bad."

"Yeah, that's a pretty big gash you have there," he agreed, indicating the cut above her right eye.

"But it stopped bleeding so I'm not worried about it," she said. "What I am worried about is that setting sun." Which was a valid fear as it was already getting cold.

Once again a short silence fell over them as they thought about their situation and what to do next.

"Looks like we'll just have to use our wilderness survival knowledge," Reid said calmly.

Emily turned around to face him with raised eyebrows. "Wilderness survival knowledge?"

Reid nodded slightly. "Don't worry," he assured her, then brought his left hand up to his head and pointed to his temple. "It's all up here."

Emily smiled. Coming from Reid, that sounded like hope.

* * *

**EN: **That's all for now! Thanks for reading and review if you can.


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: **Hello again! It's been a little while but hopefully everyone comes back to enjoy. It was fun to see everyone guessing and hopefully you guys did like the fact that Emily was the person with Reid. And if you're iffy about it, hopefully the choice will grow on you!

Um, I think that's about it. Thanks so much to everyone who has read and reviewed! They force me to post more so haha it's a win-win.

Anyways, enjoooy!

* * *

"What's first, genius?"

Reid glanced up at her from his place on the ground. It had been a surprise to see her, to be honest. A part of him had been sure it would be Morgan who popped up, but instead he had seen Emily. It wasn't that he didn't want her company in this situation because he knew they would work nicely together and she would be very helpful, he just didn't want her to have to go through it. As much as he didn't want to admit it was because she was a female, a part of him was certain it was. Again, he knew she was every bit as capable as someone like Morgan (though perhaps in different ways), but he also knew he would have been more at ease had Morgan or Hotch been there.

"Well, tell me about what led up to now," he said. "You asked me if I told anyone where we were going. Why did you say that?"

Emily took a deep breath. "We got a lead from someone we interviewed saying that a man named Robert Lakely was a witness to the kidnapping but they also said he was leaving for vacation so we had to go fast. And of course he lives on the side of the mountain where there's no reception so… no one knows where we were going."

"But before that," Reid pressed, hoping for some good news. "Whoever gave us the information… did anyone know we were there?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then when they come looking for us, they'll have an idea of where to start."

"That's true," Emily said. "So, that takes me back to my question; what do we do first?"

"Well, we already addressed injuries," he replied, then looked at her leg that had a large tear down the side of her pants and a bit of blood around it. "You are certain you are able to walk, right?"

"Yes I'm fine."

Reid looked around at the truck and back up at the mountain side and the trees, sizing it all up. There were different options now, and much of what he suggested depended on how easily they could be spotted from where they initially left the road.

"About how far up do you think we fell?" he asked, continuing his investigation.

Emily looked up too. "I don't know… um, you see that orange tree way up there? The one that is more orange than the others…" she asked, pointing.

Following where her finger was pointing, Reid was able to see the tree she was referring to and desperately hoped they had fallen a shorter distance. "Yes."

"I guess it was just a little higher than that."

Reid's stomach tightened painfully and he immediately became surprised at how they were able to survive after such a fall. Granted, the mountain side was thankfully not extremely steep but they had rolled and all.

"Why? What does that mean?" Emily asked, pulling Reid from his thoughts.

"Just that we shouldn't wait here too long for help," Reid replied, trying to word it so that it didn't sound like he was implying they would never be found.

"So we should leave?"

"No, not yet. We should stay here for the night because we wouldn't make it far," he said, looking around and taking into account the increasingly dimming light. "If at all possible, I'd prefer to have the truck right side up so we can sleep there as it will be a little warmer. What city and state are we in again?"

He could see the instant concern in her face until she remembered he wasn't able to recall much of this trip. It honestly scared him to death. His memory had always been something he could depend on to give him answers, but this time, a time when he could really use it, he could hardly remember anything at all.

"Just outside of Pine, Colorado."

"Pine, Colorado," he repeated quietly to himself. "The average low for September in this part of the state is roughly 37 degree Fahrenheit."

"Could be worse," Emily responded, turning around and looking at her surroundings. Reid could tell it was starting to sink in more and more for her, which he hated but they needed to face reality if they had a chance of making it out of here alive.

"Well, explain to me this waiting deal," Emily said, turning back to face him. "I mean, I know we fell from a pretty good distance but wouldn't it be smarter to stay here? I'm sure the crash site will be the first they find."

Reid nodded and prepared to explain it to her. It wasn't a pretty truth but it was all they had at the moment.

"Yes, however, in the probable time it will take them to find the SUV, we will likely be suffering from several different ailments, including dehydration and starvation," he explained, watching her eyebrows furrow and her mouth open a little. "It's possible, given the time of day and the unreliability of phones in this area, they may not be suspicious until morning. After that, they may start to investigate, but I'm guessing it's quite a drive up the mountain, and they'll come here only after finding out that we came up this way, and I doubt there is enough evidence to suggest we went over to catch their attention."

At this point, Emily had sunk down slowly to the grass and was letting her head rest gently on her left knee.

"Finally, given the tree cover, it will be nearly impossible to see the SUV without a helicopter. And you know they'll only bring in the helicopter after they are certain we are missing."

"I get it," Emily said quietly, raising her head. "It will probably take them days to figure out we went over the edge and by that time…"

"We'll be more injured and ill than necessary," Reid finished her statement. "Now given this climate, we could technically survive at the very most a week without water, but within days our kidneys would likely begin to shut down."

"That's no fun."

"No, it isn't," Reid agreed. "Kidney failure is a long, painful death."

Emily lifted her head and looked at him incredulously. "You've already convinced me we have to go, you don't have to bring up the gory details."

"Sorry," he said quietly, "I'm sure there are mountain streams, though…"

They sat in silence for a bit, Reid taking in the noticeable temperature drop as light continued to fade and how badly he was hurting. Everything ached, particularly his side, and he hated the fact that logic suggested they leave instead of staying put in the safe clearing the truck had found. No animals or bugs, just the SUV he had ridden in so many times before.

"Well," Emily said as she rose to her feet with a bit of a struggle. "If we're gonna flip this thing, we need to do it soon."

Reid nodded in agreement. However, the thought of standing made his stomach turn, let alone the energy loss and pain that would result from trying to flip an SUV back to all four wheels. But it needed to be done and Emily certainly couldn't do it alone.

Reid took a deep breath and tried to figure out the best way to get to his feet. Just as he began trying, he realized that Emily was suddenly at his side, aiding his efforts.

"Careful," she warned, gently helping him to stand.

The pain was immense and the nausea intensified but he pushed through it until, with much help from Prentiss, he was standing. But darkness quickly gathered around the corners of his eyes as vertigo grabbed a hold of him.

"Easy!" he heard Emily say and felt her grip tighten, helping to ease his swaying. "Breathe. Do you need to sit back down?"

Reid stood for a moment with his eyes closed, taking deep breaths before trying to reopen his eyes. He blinked a few times and felt the nausea weaken greatly.

"I'm okay," he said finally. And he meant it.

He knew Emily was still staring at him, concern in her eyes, so he did the best he could to appear normal and reassure her again.

"I'm fine, I promise. Just got a little dizzy."

"Okay," she said suspiciously. "Well, at least let me help you to the truck. Can't have you falling on me."

"Fair enough," Reid agreed, and slowly they made their way to the other side of the vehicle. Luckily, it was already tilted to their benefit, which would make their task significantly easier.

"All I want you to do is push, okay?" Emily told him. "I'm going to grab underneath and pull up. Hopefully that will be enough but if not… well, we'll go from there."

Reid nodded and was thankful all he had to do was push. He knew Emily did that so that he would be doing the least amount of movement possible around his ribcage area and for that he was grateful. However, given his injured arm, he'd only be able to push one-handed.

"On the count of three. One. Two. Three."

At that moment, they both pushed and pulled with all their might and managed to get the truck to rise a good bit in their favor before it fell back to its original position. Just as it did, the pain and nausea once again overtook Reid and he found himself vomiting, this time nowhere near Emily.

"Reid!" Emily yelled and he could then feel her hand on his back. "Reid, let's rest."

"No," he replied, standing up straight and placing his hand back on the car. It was now or never. "Let's finish this."

Emily reluctantly followed his lead and counted to three one more time. On "three" they once again used what little energy was left to lift the car just enough to let gravity do the rest. The loudness of the vehicle falling back to its rightful position caused pain to shoot through Reid's head and he fought back more vomit.

"We did it!" Emily exclaimed.

When the wave of nausea passed, Reid also looked up to admire their efforts. The car was still very much totaled, but it would make for a good shelter none the less, and for right now, that was good enough for him.

"You get in and rest," Emily told him. "I'm going to check the trunk for anything we can use."

"You sure?" he asked. "I can help."

"No, I'll get it. Just please sit down."

Reid could hear the concern in her voice and figured the best way to help her was in fact to get in the truck. Besides, he doubted there were a lot of useful materials in the back. Still, it never hurt to check.

Reid managed to pry the passenger side door to open after a couple attempts; he then climbed into the seat and tried to catch his breath. This proved to be a difficult task as deep breaths felt like a knife stabbing his side. He closed his eyes and tried to even out his breathing and overcome the pain. He felt himself starting to get very tired and was nearing sleep when he heard a car door open.

"I've got an iffy looking blanket, a bag of chips and a bottle of water," Emily announced, jarring Reid awake. He looked at the small bundle in her arms with pity. Oh, this wasn't good.

"Well, I guess we should save these," Emily continued, motioning to the chips and water, "and get some sleep, huh?"

Reid nodded. His energy was dwindling fast and he could tell the same was true for Emily.

"We both have concussions," Reid stated, hoping she would get where he was going.

She seemed to, thankfully, as she nodded her head. "Yeah, well mine is obviously not as bad so if you happen to wake up on your own, try to wake me up. Otherwise I'll be sure to wake you up at regular intervals."

"How…?"

Emily chuckled. "Don't worry about it. But I apologize in advance for waking you up."

Reid nodded and smiled. "Me too if I end up waking you up any."

Emily smiled then unfolded the rather large blanket and draped it over them both. Reid didn't protest and enjoyed the instant amount of warmth, though relatively small, it provided.

"Goodnight Reid," Emily said quietly.

"Goodnight," he replied. "And thanks."

There was a pause, then came her reply "For what?"

Reid smiled. "For being stuck out here with me."

They both chuckled and within minutes fell into a deep, sound sleep.

* * *

**EN: **That's all for now. Hopefully the next one won't take as long, but next week is graduation and I'm trying to get all my college stuff settled so... I'll do my best! Review if you got the moment or if not, come back next time!


	4. Chapter 3

**AN:** So... interesting story that is too long to get into, but the most important point is that my laptop, which has all of my documents for this story on it, was left at a family members house in another state for the past couple of weeks. So, if you're curious as to why it has taken so long, that is why. My deepest apologies! That being said, my schedule is off and I'm not as ahead as I would like to be but I'll do my best to get one chapter out per week at least. Thanks so much for everyone's patience!

**Warning: **No beta so all mistakes are my own.

Also, let me reiterate that while I've been dying to do a story like this, it's a lot to handle because there's so many more possibilities to contend with. And, it's annoying and I've done my best to cover all plot holes and "what if"s but I'm sure I've missed some. If you feel it necessary to bring them up, go for it. If you enjoy it anyway, even better!

Finally, the third chapter of Profilers vs. Nature

* * *

The first thing Emily noticed was the cold. She had never really liked being hot; always preferred to be cold if she had to choose one or the other. But this cold seemed worse for some reason and the leather seat she was sitting in certainly didn't help either.

_Leather seats…_she thought.

Her eyes snapped open once she remembered where she was, why she was there, and who she was with. She turned quickly to see her companion, a motion that made her head ache and feel slightly dizzy, to see him completely knocked out asleep. It occurred to her then that she hadn't tried to wake him up once during the night. Panic filled her like ice as she reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

"Reid?" she started softly. "Wake up, come on."

"Reid," she said louder this time when he remained lifeless. Her hand immediately shifted to his neck, located a relatively strong and normal pulse which brought much relief. Still, he was not waking up.

"Spencer…"

She continued to call his name, louder each time, and shake his shoulder until finally, he moved slightly. But it was enough to convince her he was coming out of it.

"That's it, Reid. Come on."

She watched as his movements became more pronounced and frequent until his eyes started to twitch and finally open. Emily beamed and felt relief wash over her.

"Oh, thank God," she said, letting her head rest on her seat.

She stared out at the trees before her and was annoyed at how beautiful it all looked in the morning light. She did not want to see her surroundings as being beautiful seeing as how she so desperately wanted out.

"You ok?"

Emily returned her focus to Reid after his question, slightly confused as to why he was asking it.

"Yeah," she said, then smiled as warmly as she could. "I'm actually feeling a lot better. What about you?"

A part of her didn't feel as those his response was needed because he unfortunately looked worse than he did before they had gone to sleep. He seemed paler, less coherent but most of all, he seemed weaker.

Reid's strength had always confused Emily. Physically, he screamed weakness; he was tall, lanky and thin with straggly hair. In fact, when she had first met him, she had known he had to be some sort of genius because it honestly looked like she could break him in half. And even as she began to learn that he was, in fact, a very strong person, she still felt as though she could physically break him somehow.

She shuttered and forced the thought from her head and instead focused on what he was beginning to say.

"M'kay," he slurred, though Emily was unsure if he was just tired or if it was something more. "Got a headache and sore still, but not bad. How's your leg?"

Emily frowned as she realized she hadn't really thought about it but now that she was, she only really felt a dull throb.

"Not bad," she answered truthfully. "I guess the real test will come when I try to walk on it."

Reid smiled, though it seemed sort of sad, and nodded in agreement. "We'll take it slow."

Emily chuckled at this. "I think we would take it slow with or without my injured leg."

Reid turned to her at the statement and looked confused. "Why do you say that?"

She laughed again and replied, "In case you haven't noticed, you're in worse shape than I am."

"Well, that's a matter of opinion," he said, though she figured he knew he was in a worse shape than she was, "but even so, I don't have an injured leg and seeing as how we will be walking, I'd say you're in a worse position."

"Perhaps," Emily continued, enjoying the ironically lighthearted banter that was taking place, "but I also don't have the possibility of rupturing a lung from simply moving the wrong way."

Emily watched as the omniscient Dr. Spencer Reid was stumped and smiled. "Touché."

A short silence fell over them as they were both painfully aware of how dangerous venturing out into the wilderness could be for both of them, but what choice did they have? Reid was right; the chance of the team, or anyone for that matter, finding them in time if they remained at the crash site was slim and more importantly, Emily was sure neither of them could simply sit in the wrecked SUV for days doing absolutely nothing. No, they needed to do something.

"So," Emily said finally, not enjoying the silence any longer. "What's the plan?"

Reid let out a sigh that Emily felt was uncharacteristic of him and therefore didn't like it. "Yeah, I guess we should come up with one, huh?"

The chuckle he seemed to force out didn't convince Emily. He was worried, and that worried Emily. It wasn't really fair of her to feel that way because anyone would feel worried or even scared to death in this situation but Emily was so used to seeing Reid on top of everything, pleasant and balanced. In the unfortunate events that he was not, Emily always felt unsettled.

"Okay, well the mountain isn't very steep," Emily said, pushing past her feelings and trying to get a productive conversation going. "Well, I think we would have a chance of climbing it. So that's one option."

Reid nodded from his seat though he still seemed kind of out of it.

"Or we could try going through the woods," Emily pressed on, trying to fight the growing concern that with Reid's slightly distant stare. "There may be something there…"

"There's not," he responded suddenly before turning to look at her. "I remember the map now. The only plausible way is, in fact, up."

Emily nodded. Well, at least this was closer to the Reid she knew.

"Regaining your memory, I see?"

To her pleasure, he smiled in response and Emily could tell his returning memory was giving him some comfort. They certainly needed it any way they could get it.

"Okay," Emily said, changing the subject, "we have these chips and the water. Should we continue to save them for now?"

Reid seemed to consider this for a moment but eventually nodded. "We will have to get water soon, but it's still early in the day. I'm thinking closer to noon we may open it."

Emily nodded in agreement. Unfortunately, as they had no idea how long it would take them and likewise whether there would be any other water or food sources out there, they had to be as cautious as possible.

"Alright, then I guess all that's left is to get going," Emily continued, trying to sound positive even though the last thing she wanted to do was leave the SUV. "I think I'm going to get out and test my leg."

Reid looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, I should probably get out too."

He was right, of course, but Emily really wished he could just stay in the SUV and she would go get help. Knowing that was not a possibility, she wrenched open the door and stepped out. Suddenly, pain shot through her leg and it gave out but Emily was able to catch herself before she went all the way down. She quickly glanced at Reid, who hadn't noticed as he was having his own battle with getting out, and tried to focus. After a moment, however, she found that she was able to stand and walk pretty well and decided it was more so the surprise of the pain than the pain itself that had got her.

Still, she walked slowly around the car to Reid's side to see him standing still and staring at one particular spot in the distance, as though concentrating. Emily knew the look; he was trying to overcome the dizziness that came with standing.

He succeeded eventually and they found themselves staring at each other, waiting for the other to say something.

"Okay," Reid started, going into what Emily knew as 'check-list' mode. "We should take the blanket; any bit of warmth will be helpful. We've got the food and water, for lack of better terms, and most importantly, we have our guns."

Emily frowned. Wow, she hadn't even thought about all the dangerous mountain animals they could come in contact with along the way.

"So…," she said, pulling Reid from his mental checklist. "What kind of animals live in these mountains? Actually, let me rephrase that," she continued before he could answer, knowing that he could easily begin sprouting off the hundreds of animals in the area. "What kind of _dangerous _animals live in the mountains?"

Reid took a deep breath, "Well, you have the bears, both black bears and grizzlies, there are mountain lions, wolves, coyotes…"

"Mooses?" Emily interjected, which stopped Reid in his tracks and he turned to her and frowned. "What, is it meese?" She added quickly, suddenly feeling embarrassed that she didn't know which word applied. "Oh, I never understood how to do the plural version of certain words."

"The word 'moose' originates from the Algonquian Indians and, like many of their words, the plural is the same as the singular."

"So it's 'moose'," Emily said simply. He could never just give a simple answer, there always had to be background information or interesting related facts…

"Yes," he replied, "it's moose. And yes, there are also moose in these mountains."

"So, what you're saying is, we could have our hands full in terms of wildlife?"

Reid shrugged. "Potentially. But, contrary to popular beliefs, most animals will stay away from humans. It's really only when they feel their territory and/or offspring are being threatened that they attack," he explained calmly, which made Emily feel a little better. "Also, given the road on this side of the mountain, it's possible most of the animals have made their primary home somewhere else."

Emily nodded and was thankful for his knowledge actually serving to comfort this time.

"Still, that is mostly theory so we will certainly need to keep an eye out."

"Oh believe me, we will do that," Emily said. There was no way she was going to be mauled by a bear or wolf or moose or whatever the hell else lived on that mountain.

"Oh wait," she said suddenly, a thought having just occurred to her. "Couldn't we try firing our guns? I mean, if there is anyone out there, they'll hear it and at least send someone to investigate it."

"I had considered that," Reid said, which meant that he was about to explain the issue with that theory. "And that may be something we do later on, but right now, given that we have no idea if there is anyone out there who would hear it and the unknowns of the wildlife, we should preserve the bullets until we are at least closer to the road."

Emily nodded, agreeing that it was the best course of action. It was better to eliminate the risk of being caught by a bear with not enough bullets than it was to shoot the guns and hope someone heard it. But he was right, once they completed a good bit of their hike and there was less possibility of being attacked, they could look into it.

"So do we have everything we need?" she asked but after receiving a funny look from the young agent, added, "You know what I mean… do we have everything that we can possibly have that we need?"

"Yes," Reid replied, "I believe we are good to begin our hike."

Emily smiled at his attempt to make their oncoming journey seem more like a pleasant trip up a mountain, but it did not take away the fear she had.

"Alright, we take it slow and follow the path made by the SUV," Emily said, feeling as though this was her part of their little team, "and it either of us need to stop and rest for a moment, we will. I mean that Reid. I'd rather rest for fifteen minutes than have to carry your skinny ass up this mountain."

This got a smile in return from him and he retorted, "Same applies to you."

"Thanks for the compliment," Emily said with a laugh but when Reid looked thoroughly confused she simply shook her head and said, "Nothing."

With one last look at their wrecked SUV and a glance forward at what seemed like endless miles of tree-covered mountainside, Emily and Reid took their first steps of the journey.

Emily sighed as they left the clearing and stepped into the world of trees, her last thought being that she wished she had worn better shoes.

* * *

**EN: **And so it begins. Hopefully it was worth the wait. Sorry again everyone and I love you all!


	5. Chapter 4

**AN: **Been quite some time! Can't say I'm at all proud of that and I could certainly dish out some pretty valid excuses, but alas, what's the point? However, I will say this: to all who have given up on this story (which, those who have given up won't be reading this anyway, I suppose), I do not blame you and I'm terribly sorry. To those who are returning, grudgingly or otherwise, I am also terribly sorry but cannot thank you enough!

**Warnings: **Because it's been so long, you may want to brush up on the last chapter though I don't think anything in this one is too difficult to grasp. OTher than that, no real warnings except for one curse word I think... so, pretty pg.

**Disclaimer: **Other than the obvious "the show and characters aren't mine" bit, I am going to continue to emphasize that I know there are aspects of this story that are completely accurate; namely the medical stuff as well as the environment. I assure you all that I did research, but it's all very complex and difficult to tie up all ends and I am certainly not a seasoned enough writer to cover all those bases. So, I apologize and ask you to overlook minor details as I believe it is all logical. However, if there is a glaring mistake that completely offsets the story, let me know! I do apologize if there are many inaccuracies, but I'm an 18 year old girl who, apart from a few Caribbean cruises, has never been away from the east coast of America...

Despite all of this, I do hope you enjoy this long awaited chapter. A thousand apologies!

* * *

Reid was tired. He had been tired since the moment he first woke up after the crash, but now that they were well over two hours into their hike up the mountain, Reid's fatigue had increased ten-fold. He wasn't the only one, though; Emily, who stayed in front for the most part, had been limping for the past half hour and was getting slower by the minute.

The hike itself hadn't been too bad considering they had both endured a pretty serious car accident. The incline of the mountain side, though not very steep, certainly presented a challenge for them but it was more so the ground that offered the major problem. With slippery leaves and other debris covering it combined with sudden and unexpected dips in the ground, both Reid and Emily had basically stumbled most of the way up. And it was really beginning to take its toll.

Reid, now panting and trying to keep his breaths as shallow as possible, finally came to the conclusion that he needed to rest. He slowed to a stop and prepared himself to call Emily when he noticed she had already stopped.

"I need to rest," she said without turning to look at him.

"Me too," Reid said, pleased that they were at least on the same page.

She turned around then and Reid could see the exhaustion that no doubt mirrored his own. She walked down a few feet to get closer to Reid, and then they both slowly and gingerly made their way to the ground.

After the pain of sitting passed, Reid relished the moment of relaxation. He was tired, he was hurting and most of all he was sick of hiking. He had never been the outdoorsy type. He preferred sitting in a comfortable chair in a quiet room with several good books. This hiking and nature mess was just not for him.

It wasn't that he couldn't appreciate nature, because he most certainly did. But he preferred to experience it through the imagery presented in a book or from a nice, safe location that gave him a beautiful view. But to be stuck in the middle of it? Definitely not his cup of tea.

And, judging by the look on Emily's face, it wasn't her favorite either.

"We're doing pretty well," she said, still trying to catch her breath. "We've been walking for over two hours."

Reid nodded, also trying to get his breathing under control but it was more so for the purpose of keeping his lung intact. "Yes, I'm pleased with our progress."

"I can't see the SUV anymore," Emily said, peering down past Reid at where the SUV would have been, "So, if we continued like this I'd say we'd reach the road by nightfall, don't you think?"

Reid shrugged; he was not as hopeful. "Given that our energy and physical aptitude will continue to decrease as the day goes on, the likelihood of us maintaining this pace is rather slim. Also, factoring in any possible complications such as an animal, a blocked path or an accident, I would say it's more likely we would have to stop before nightfall and would therefore reach the road about this time tomorrow, give or take a couple of hours."

Emily, after staring at him blankly for a moment after he finished, sighed. He did not like giving her unpleasant news, but it was only the truth and it gave them better means of preparation. Besides, he didn't think that reaching the road early tomorrow was _that _much worse.

"Well," she said, pulling herself back up to her feet, "I guess we should try to press on. How are you feeling?"

Reid considered this, doing a mental check of his body. His elbow was throbbing but it was an injury he would just have to look over. In that same category was his aching head. However, the throbbing in his ribcage had not gotten any better and he knew that he would still need to be very careful or else risk puncturing his lung. Regardless, he was not at that point yet.

"Well enough to keep going," he answered, trying to stay positive.

Slowly, he began to try to get up without moving his torso too much. Luckily, before he got to the hard part, Emily was beside him, carefully supporting him as he stood.

"Thanks," he breathed, trying to once again catch his breath.

"That's what I'm here for," she replied with a smile.

They stood for a few seconds, allowing Reid to control his breathing, before they began to continue their walk.

"So, Mr. Genius," he heard Emily playfully say after about twenty minutes of silent hiking. "What is your favorite movie?"

Reid frowned, curious as to where the question had come from. "Movie?"

"Yes, movie," she retorted breathlessly, "I know you've seen at least one good movie that you liked."

Reid shrugged. Yes, he had seen some movies, even though he preferred the creative license given to the reader when reading a novel, and he had even enjoyed a few.

"I guess I would have to say _Gattaca_," he answered, trying to give a fair assessment based on the handful of movies he had seen.

"_Gattaca_?" she repeated. "What's a 'gattaca?'"

"It isn't an object," Reid replied simply. "It's a movie about the hypothetical future in which genetic engineering becomes such a natural part of producing nearly perfect children that the children who were conceived and developed naturally fall victim to genetic profiling," he explained, recalling the events of the movie as though it were actually playing on a television set in front of him. "It follows a "love child" who so desperately wants to become an astronaut that he switches identities with a genetically acceptable man because they wouldn't accept him otherwise. It truly sheds light on the possibilities of genetic engineering."

Emily didn't respond for a moment and Reid wondered if she simply hadn't heard him or what…

"Wait," she said suddenly, briefly looking back at him. "Is that the one with Jude Law?"

Reid frowned; He was terribly unfamiliar with the names of celebrities. Apparently sensing his dilemma, she added, "He was in that movie about the boy robot, _Artificial Intelligence_."

Ah yes, he remembered that movie as well. It was a good one and sort of similar to _Gattaca_ but taken from the point of view of the unnatural being as opposed to the natural one. And he did remember the same actor being in both.

"Yes, I think so," he replied.

"The guy was in a wheelchair, right?" Emily pressed.

"Yes," Reid said happily, finally sure they were on the same page. "That is _Gattaca_."

Emily laughed then. "Wow, I could have sworn you would either say that you hadn't really watched any movies or else picked a documentary or something but you actually chose a good movie."

Reid wasn't sure whether that was a compliment or not so he didn't reply.

"I guess I would have to say mine is _Ghost_ with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore," she said, even though Reid had technically not asked. He figured it was just the way conversations went and besides, it was taking his mind off his exhaustion and pain.

"It's about a guy who gets killed but he comes back as a ghost and meets up with Whoopi Goldberg and…," she trailed off, which worked as Reid was lost anyway. "Ever seen it?"

"No," Reid answered without much thought. He was quite certain he had never watched any ghost movies.

"Oh," she replied, sounded almost disappointed. "It's a really sweet story. Maybe I'll make you watch it when we get back to civilization."

Reid smiled, knowing that that would not happen even if they did make it back to Washington. He couldn't really see himself watching a 'sweet' movie with Emily Prentiss and more importantly, they rarely had time to watch movies.

Still, he did not object and they continued stumbling up the side of the mountain, but with less talk. Reid figured, as time went on, that they were both simply focusing on keeping themselves going. After another hour and a half of walking, Reid decided he simply couldn't do it anymore. He stopped, and slowly sat down on the ground before calling to Emily.

"Emily," he said as he relaxed against the side of a tree. "I need to stop for a minute."

Emily, looking exhausted herself, stumbled back down to where he was and practically plopped down beside him.

"Thank God," she sighed and she lied down on the ground. "I thought I was going to have to suggest it again."

Reid, deciding against explaining that the first time they had stopped had been a mutual agreement, instead brought up something else.

"I think now would be a good time to replenish ourselves."

Emily slowly turned her head to look at him and Reid was temporarily confused by the frown she wore on her face.

"Water?" he tried to explain, wondering what she thought he was getting at.

"Oh!" she said as she fought to sit up. "Water! That sounds like a good idea."

He watched as she pulled the bottle of water that was bulging out of her pocket and unscrewed the cap. After doing so, she looked at it a minute as though she was about to take a sip, but she looked at Reid instead.

"Do you have a problem with drinking after me? Or sharing in general?"

Reid smiled lightly at this. "Given our current situation, I feel that worrying over such a trivial matter would be somewhat counterproductive."

Emily smiled in response, said "Good," and then took a small gulp. She then passed it to Reid, who, also mindful of the amount he took in, took a swallow. Now, with the water already nearing the half-full mark, Reid gave the bottle back to Emily who screwed the cap on.

After a few more moments of rest, they both got back up and continued their hike. The hours passed in this way: they would walk anywhere from one to two hours, take a short fifteen minute break, and then they would keep on going.

But, as Reid had expected, the more time that passed, the more tired and slow they both became. Reid was definitely feeling extreme pain all over, especially in his side, and Emily was limping worse than ever. Still, Reid was sure that they were nearing the five o'clock point which meant they would need to find shelter pretty soon.

"Okay," Emily said suddenly, stopping in her tracks. "It's about time to look for shelter but, judging by the sun, I'd say we have at least an hour and a half before it gets dark. So, what do you say we rest for a minute, walk for a half hour or so, then find shelter?"

Reid thought about this and while another half-hour trek wouldn't make too much of a difference to their overall journey, every bit counted. Besides, they would need adequate time to find the best possible shelter.

"We can do that," Reid said, grateful for another chance to sit down. His whole body ached and he longed for more water. They hadn't drank anymore since the first time they opened it and he figured it would hurt for them to each have one last gulp for the day.

"We should each have a few chips and have a bit more water," Reid said, trying to position himself as comfortable as possible against a tree.

Emily nodded and began to get both objects out. She had been appointed the one to carry those items while Reid kept the blanket dangling from his neck. They ate two chips each, had their sip of water then enjoyed the peace.

Emily sighed a few minutes later and Reid knew what that meant. "I guess it's that time again," she sighed. Reid nodded; they did need to start looking for a shelter as they continued going up.

Emily slowly stood up but just as she did, the bottle of water slipped out of her hand and began to roll down the inclined land.

"Shit!" she exclaimed as both she and Reid did what they could to stop it. Luckily, the bottle got caught on a rock a few yards down from where they were. They both sighed sighs of relief, knowing that the loss of that water, though only half a bottle now, would not be ideal.

"Change of plans," Emily said heavily. "After I go down there and get the water, _then _we continue on."

Reid, still on the ground, nodded and decided he would try to stand while she got the water. As she started to make her way down, Reid tried to stand using the tree as support and was doing pretty well until he heard something that made his heart stop.

First, he heard something that sounded like Emily slipping in the leaves, but that turned into a yelp followed by the sound of her tumbling and finally came the gut-wrenching thud of her body colliding with something hard.

After turning to look in the direction she had fallen, Reid came to the very clear realization that their journey had just gotten significantly harder.

* * *

**EN: **Hope that was pretty good. And I'm going to tell you all right now, I really don't know when the next one will be up. I'm trying to get all prepared for college and everything is kinda out of whack in my life so this, unfortunately, falls to the side. However, I WILL complete this story. Hang in there if you can manage. Thanks soooo much to everyone who has stuck with me and I hope that you'll stick around until the very end. Much love!


	6. Chapter 5

**AN: **Well, no excuses. I've been in college for over a month now and was feeling completely settled in and therefore wrote this. Rest assured, my plan is to finish this asap. So, I'm going to work on the next chapter and as soon as I'm done and like it, I'll post it. Whether that's tonight or in a week, I'll post it right away. I REALLY am sorry for making you all wait so long. Hopefully I didn't lose too many.

Finally... chapter 5:

* * *

"Emily!" Reid yelled as he struggled to stand up. He saw her a few yards down the incline of the mountain, her body lying in a motionless heap in front of a tree. He hadn't seen her fall, but he could tell the tree had stopped her from going any further but it had also apparently knocked her out. Or worse…

His exhaustion and pain now masked by adrenaline, Reid began to stumble down towards her.

"Emily!" he continued to yell as he tried to safely, but quickly, reach her. When he finally did, he dropped painfully to his knees and without further thought, laid his fingers against an exposed section of her neck.

Air he had no idea he was holding came rushing from his lungs when he felt a pulse. It was relatively strong, but slow. Given that she was clearly unconscious, the sluggish heartbeat was almost expected. Despite that small relief, the fact that she _was_ unconscious was certainly not a relief.

Reid looked her over, afraid to touch her anymore than he already had. She was not necessarily twisted in any sort of odd angle, which made the sight of her that much easier to take in, but she was slightly wrapped around the tree at her midsection. With the exception of the possibility that the impact was strong enough to rupture an internal organ, hitting the tree with her abdomen may have been a blessing. It was certainly better than her head or neck.

Also, given her position, her loss of consciousness most likely occurred during the fall. Reid glanced behind him and spotted a rock that he was almost sure Emily's head had collided with. It wasn't too large, though, so hopefully the damage it caused would be minimal.

Reid turned his attention back to Prentiss.

"Emily," he said pretty loudly, finding his voice to be an oddity in the now quiet environment. "Emily, you gotta wake up."

His mind began to race immediately. What if she didn't wake up? There was no way he could leave her here but on the other hand, it was likely no one would find them if they both stayed here. At least not in time for her to be saved. And even if she did wake up, would she be in any condition to continue? Reid wouldn't be surprised if she was no longer able to hike up a mountain after this tumble…

The ugly truth was he simply didn't know. Didn't know when she'd wake up, if she'd wake up, and what damage would be done.

Reid clenched his eyes shut and brought his head to his hand. He had simply no idea what to do. He was even too afraid to move her because the slightest movement could kill her if, say, her neck was broken. He sat there in silence and could feel his heart pounding and felt the pain in his body start to reintroduce itself as the adrenaline faded away. He was not one to give up hope, but this was beginning to get pretty bad.

"Emily…," he said, softly this time, "please wake up. Please… just let me know you're okay…"

He watched her, half expecting to see her eyes open and give him some sort of idea of how badly she was hurt, but that did not happen.

Reid sat beside her in silence, noting that the light around them was growing dimmer and dimmer. Night was close and they had certainly not reached any sort of shelter. Reid glanced back towards that rock a little ways up he had been interested in for a potential shelter, but it was definitely a good hike to get to it. And even if he checked it out and determined it to be a good place for the night, he'd likely have no way to get her there.

Honestly, he would be willing to try to get Prentiss there somehow. He knew he couldn't lift her, exactly, but he would try to half carry, half pull. But again, he would only do that if he was certain it wouldn't cause more damage to her body or worse, kill her.

The possibility of an actual shelter fading quickly, Reid began to consider staying put for the night. It wasn't necessarily a terrible option, but it would make it harder to keep watch for any sort of predators as they could come from any direction. Still, unless Emily woke up, that was the only option at least until morning. After that, Reid would be forced to consider trying to leave her there and find help.

He shook his head and told himself that she'd wake up. He looked down at her again and sighed.

Reid spent the last few hours of daylight periodically trying to wake Prentiss while trying to get them as ready as he could for the night. He had already draped the blanket over her and had come to rest on a nearby tree that had a good view of both Prentiss and most of the mountain side. Gun in hand, Reid let his head fall against the tree.

This wasn't alright. Not in the least. But then again, what option did he have?

He knew he couldn't sleep tonight despite the fact that every molecule begged and pleaded for deep sleep. In fact, Reid was hoping that Emily's prolonged slumber was more so due to exhaustion than the injury itself but he really had no way of knowing.

The only sign he had was the occasional change in the sound of her breathing and maybe the slightest movement, but Reid also knew he could have just imagined it.

The truth was, the darker it got, the more paranoid he got. Reid was afraid of the dark and was not ashamed to admit it. But there was something about this dark that was so much worse. The situation itself, of course, did not help but he somehow felt that the darkness that fell over the woods was much heavier than anything he'd ever experienced. The positive side was the desperate mixture of pain and fear made it easy to stay awake. His heart pounded and with it came the desire to breathe deeper and quicker, but it hurt his aching ribs far too much.

The night pressed on for what seemed like days. Many times Reid wanted to call out to Emily, but was too afraid to make a sound. Reid tightened his grip on his gun every time he heard the slightest sound, knowing it was just the wind blowing leaves around. On a few occasions, he heard animals calling in the night but they were always pretty far off in the distance. It did not cause him to let his guard down in the least, however.

For the most part, Reid passed the time by staring at Emily. A few times, he was absolutely sure he saw her move. It was never a major movement, but it was something none the less. Every now and then he'd glance up at the sky that was visible through the darkened outlines of the trees. It was truly a beautiful sight. The night sky was often taken for granted because in most cities, it's too bright to see the true beauty of the stars. But out here… there was nothing to obstruct the radiance. A part of him kind of wished Emily was awake to see them.

Reid was not sure how many hours had passed but knew it had to be a while. He stayed in the same position for the most par and tried not to acknowledge the intense pain or the cold that seemed to be getting worse. But all of it, even the dark, seemed to not matter as much anymore. He didn't know if he was just getting used to the conditions or perhaps he was starting to relax too much, but it was kind of nice all the same.

The truth was he was definitely getting a bit too relaxed. Even the soft occasional sounds of ruffling leaves began to fade away. Before he knew it, he was beginning the gradual slip into the welcoming arms of sleep until a sudden, loud sound made him jump and sent shocks of pain through his body.

Without thinking, Reid raised his gun and pointed it in front of him towards where he thought the sound had come from, but all he saw was darkness. His heart racing, Reid tried to keep his breathing under control as his eyes fought to see in the impossible darkness.

That's when he heard a small cough and practically stopped breathing.

Then there was another cough.

Silence followed for a few seconds during which Reid was perfectly still, paralyzed partly by fear, partly by the intense desire for it to be Emily.

Then he heard a very welcome sound: breathing. Rapid, scared breathing, but that could only come from someone who was conscious enough to realize this was a frightening situation.

"Reid?" a small, strangled voice called out softly.

Reid's shock disappearing immediately, he lowered his weapon and moved forward quickly, barely noticing the pain that came with the movement. Emily was awake, and that took precedence over the pain.

"Emily," he sighed as he came to rest on his knees beside her.

He felt her hand search for him and finally come to lie on his wrist. "What… what.."

"Shh, Emily, it's okay," he said softly, not really knowing why he said it. It just seemed natural. "You kind of, uh, fell and hit your head. I was getting really worried because you wouldn't wake up… how's your neck? And everything else…?"

There was a brief pause in which Reid guessed Prentiss was doing a personal check of herself.

"I… I think I'm okay," she replied, sounding unsure. "Bad headache and… my ankle is pretty sore but I can move my head and," she paused and Reid heard her gasp a little in pain. "My back seems okay too. Just pretty sore all over."

Reid felt relief wash over him. They were not out of the woods, no pun intended, but she could move her neck and back and even if she was unable to fully support herself, that meant they would be at least somewhat mobile in the morning.

"How about your head?" Reid further inquired, remembering the head wound. "Can you think clearly?"

The fact that she seemed pretty lucid was a very good sign; perhaps he had been right in hoping her unconsciousness was mostly due to exhaustion.

"I think so," she replied after a moment. "I know where we are and what happened… I can't really tell you the exact day or time," she continued with a small, forced chuckle, "but I don't think that's the head wound's fault."

Reid smiled and shook his head. "No, I think you're right."

They sat in silence for a little while after that and Reid wondered if she'd fallen asleep again.

"I wonder what time it is," she said, letting Reid know she was still awake.

He began to yawn but was forced to stop when a stabbing pain radiated through his chest.

"I don't know," he replied after he recovered. "I'd have to guess around three."

"Three?" she repeated, "Have you been awake that long?"

Reid slowly repositioned himself so that his legs stretched out before him. "Yeah," he replied. "Someone had to keep watch."

Silence once more then, "Sorry."

Reid frowned. "Sorry for what? Accidentally falling and getting knocked out?"

"… Basically, yes."

"Don't be absurd," he said, hoping to end the conversation. "It just as easily could have been me."

It seemed to work, though, because after a few more moments of quiet, he heard her yawn.

"Maybe I should sit up," she said, her voice soft and still a bit unfocused.

"Why?" Reid inquired. Honestly, he wouldn't mind her getting a bit more sleep and them leaving at sunrise. She clearly did have a concussion but she also seemed pretty lucid which made him think it was a fairly mild one.

"To keep watch."

"No," Reid retorted simply. "I'm wide awake. I kind of think, if you think you're up to it, that is, that you should go back to sleep and I'll wake you when the sun comes up."

"Reid…"

"It's only a couple more hours, I'm sure," he cut her off.

"Yeah, but…"

Reid, once again, interrupted her with the statement, "How about this: If we spend another night out here, you can keep watch."

There was a moment of silence in which she contemplated this before finally answering in an exhausted voice, "Alright, fine."

Reid smiled, glad to have won this battle even if it did mean he had to stay up the entire night and try to finish their trek up the mountain tomorrow with absolutely no sleep.

It wasn't long after this conversation that Reid heard Prentiss' breathing even out and he knew she had fallen asleep once more. Filled with a newfound relief, Reid quietly made his way back to his own tree to keep watch over her. The fear that he should have tried to keep her awake with her concussion crossed his mind a few times, but he honestly felt she had been lucid enough and besides, Reid was sure there was not much time left before sunrise anyway.

The concern of waking her up as soon as possible along with the anticipation of being able to make their way up the mountain again gave Reid enough motivation to stay awake.

Reid was not sure how long he was sitting there in the unforgiving darkness before the warm rays of first sunlight began to illuminate the world around him, but it didn't matter because the night was finally over and a new day had arrived.

This was the last day they would have to spend on the side of this Colorado mountain. This was the day they were going to find help. Reid would make sure of it.

* * *

**EN: **It was kind of slow but they had to make it through the night. Next chapter should be interesting. Thanks for reading and hopefully the next one will be up very soon.


	7. Chapter 6

**AN: **So... it's been a while. All I can say is I'm sorry. I always hated the authors who did what I have done with this story and I hate that I've done that, especially because all of you have been so great to me! But life has been so crazy between moving away from college, getting a job at Disney World and maintaining schoolwork and relationships. Still, I am sorry and I hope the rest of this story will be posted in a timely fashion.

** The only problem with getting the rest up quickly will be that, given the New Year's holiday, Disney is working us hard so I will do my best!

Okay, here it is:

:)

* * *

Emily Prentiss considered herself a fairly attractive woman who could have easily found herself waking up in precarious situations after having one too many drinks at a bar or something of the like. However, given her job and common sense, she would have never let it get that far nor would she be drinking in a bar alone. Despite her certainty of this, she found herself waking up now with a killer headache and no clue where she was or how she had gotten there. Surely she had not been daft enough to drink herself into oblivion, but at the present moment, she couldn't think of any other possibility.

That was until she began to notice other details of her current situation: she was cold and with the light breeze that kept brushing over her face; she was outside. With that realization, she let her fingers gently move to feel the surface she was on, and sure enough, her test resulted in leaves and dirt and that was enough to remind her of everything else; the case, the wreck and Reid.

Her eyes shot open and they were immediately greeted with the warm morning sunlight and the beautifully silhouetted trees. Despite the beauty and the terrible pain in her skull and body overall, she gently turned her head to face where she was pretty sure Reid was.

And she was right.

Leaned against the tree was the frail, exhausted and sick looking Dr. Spencer Reid whose eyes, although highly red and swollen, were still open. Emily could tell he was not completely "with it" and his gaze was glossy and unfocused, but he was still clearly awake. Emily continued to inspect him and saw that his hand, still grasping onto his gun, was lying limply against his outstretched leg.

However bad Emily felt, she was almost certain Reid looked worse.

She immediately felt disgusted with herself because she knew he had stayed up all night because she hadn't been able to. No, falling was not her fault but she could have been more careful and if there was one thing that could actually help Reid while they were stuck out here, it was sleep. And she had taken that from him.

"Reid," she called softly.

She then watched as his eyes seemed to snap into focus and his hand tightened around his gun. He was clearly alarmed and Emily felt bad for scaring him. But when his eyes focused on her, she was elated to see relief wash over him.

"Good morning," he said tiredly but with a hint of a grin, "how do you feel?"

Truthfully, not so great. Her head was pounding and she was absolutely certain that if she sat up, she'd vomit.

"Alright," she lied. "How are you? Did you sleep at all?"

Reid frowned at this. "It wouldn't have been a very effective watch had I fallen asleep."

This confirmed her fears. Yes, she was glad there had been someone awake to keep a watch over them, but he desperately needed rest.

"Well, thank you," she said softly, guilt tearing at her already upset stomach.

He seemed to ignore her though as his mind was already set on something else.

"We're getting out of her today," he said confidently.

Emily frowned and although she was pleased to hear this statement, she was also confused. She didn't know how much further they needed to go but she was sure that her ankle was unusable and that was assuming she'd be able to walk without falling over. And that was just her; Reid was a different matter altogether.

"I've been thinking about it and we should only have about a mile, maybe two, to go," he continued as if he couldn't tell she was concerned. "Of course, that will take a while given the terrain and our condition but regardless, it is more than doable."

Emily continued to frown and felt even more skeptical as she felt the nausea getting worse.

"So really, we have two options: we can both try to make it up the mountain and, given that you are concussed and with a bad ankle, I would have to support you most, if not all, of the way," he explained before pausing and looking slightly grim, "Or I leave you and find help."

Emily had a thousand comments appear inside of her at that last suggestion. Reid was just as hurt as she was, even if it wasn't as noticeable. He had a concussion and probably broken ribs as well. Based off his descriptions after the wreck, they were pretty badly broken and could start causing internal damage. If he went off on his own and, God forbid, ruptured a lung… what then?

"Reid, you can't," was all she said.

"Emily, what choice do we have?" he replied as though he had been ready for this. "You can't walk and are so badly concussed you probably can't even stand without falling over. And even if you could, I couldn't offer you much support."

"Yes, but you are injured too, Reid," she replied, wanting so badly to at least sit up but knowing if she tried, she'd vomit all over the place and that would do little to prove her point. "Your ribs are broken and if you move the wrong way…"

"But I _can _move," he interrupted. "I know exactly what's wrong with me and I will be careful, but the truth of the matter is if we both go, I'll be more likely to make my injury worse if I'm trying to support you and in turn make your injuries worse."

It sounded harsh, but he was right.

"As long as you are awake and lucid enough to shoot if need be, then I feel confident we'll both be alright and get the help we need."

Emily looked at him and saw how sure he was and unfortunately, he was right. She couldn't walk and it was probably difficult enough for him to support himself, let alone add her weight to the burden.

She sighed and closed her eyes. "I don't like this," she said softly.

"Neither do I."

She looked at him again and saw that he suddenly looked older than he was. He was exhausted, run down and seemed like he was on his last leg. Still, the determination he held was enough to convince Emily that he could do this and that they would both survive this whole ordeal.

"Okay," Emily said finally. She did not like this one bit but what choice did they have?

"Okay," Reid echoed then began to push himself up. Emily watched the struggle, noting that he seemed to be very weak and in a lot of pain and it did not help her feelings towards what he was about to do.

"We'll use the guns as a signal," he continued, getting right down to business. "Obviously, try not to shoot just in case you need it, but if I hear a gunshot, I'll head back immediately."

Emily nodded. "And if I hear a gunshot?"

He stared at her for a minute, apparently considering the question. "Let's just hope that doesn't happen."

Emily sighed and watched as he bent down and grabbed something and realized it was the water that had almost killed her. He opened it, took a rather small sip of it then slowly got down on his knees by Emily.

"You need to drink," he said calmly.

Emily shook her head but immediately regretted it. "No," she responded strongly, "You need it more than me."

"Not true," he responded simply. "Doctors always suggest patients suffering from concussions to increase their fluid intakeand given the fact that you've been out for so long, you're concussion is pretty bad."

"You have a concussion too."

"Not as bad as yours," he said. "Do you think you can sit up against the tree?"

Emily thought about it and decided it was worth a try. It would certainly help her drink as well as be alert while Reid was gone. So, she nodded her head and allowed Reid to gingerly aid her in sitting up against the tree. The same tree that she had collided with the day before, interestingly enough.

Then, without another word, Reid brought the bottle of water to her lips and slowly tilted it, allowing her to take in the much desired water. It wasn't until then that she realized just how thirsty she was.

"Thank you," she said

Reid nodded carefully and screwed the lid back on.

"There's enough there to last you about a full day, but hopefully you won't need it that long," he said as he slowly pushed his way back to a standing position. The pain it caused was not lost on Emily, but she fought her desire to bring it up. He was going to do this one way or the other, so there was no point.

The was a brief moment of awkward silence as they both knew what was next, but really didn't want to go there.

"Okay," Reid said finally, "help should be here soon, Emily, I promise."

Emily caught the borderline desperateness in his voice but knew he was going to make it happen, or, God forbid, die trying.

"I know, Reid," she said. "I trust you."

A ghost of a smile formed on his pale face and Emily knew her statement made him feel better. Reid was not usually the person on the team who would be in a position like this. In fact, if anything, he'd be in Emily's position. It was nothing against him or to say he was weaker than the others, it was just that his strength was his mind whereas the others were more so physical strength, like Morgan, or control like Hotch. Either way, this was a new situation and as far as Emily was concerned, Reid was handling it with grace.

"Well, bye for now," he said quietly.

"See you soon," Emily replied, following his lead to leave on hopeful that, Reid gave one last half-smile then turned around and started up the mountain.

Emily sighed and breathed, "Here we go…"

* * *

**EN: **Eh, the split had to happen. Next one will be up shortly, maybe even tonight as a "sorry" for making you wait so long.


	8. Chapter 7

**AN:** So I was so overwhelmed at how truly kind everyone was with their reviews that I decided to say thanks with the next chapter. It's a wordy one, but when you have a character all alone, they kinda have to be. So hopefully it's not too boring and has a good pay off. It's actually one of my favorite chapters in this story. So anyway, thank you all again! I'm a very lucky writer to have such nice readers!

**Warning: **None, but after getting a qustion about Reid's injury to his arm, it occurred to me that I haven't been too consistant with that injury and because it pops back up in this chapter, let me explain myself. In my mind, his initial injury was one that would be quite painful but not completely immobilize it. So, perhaps a bone chip or just bruised it really bad. Either way, that was were I was going with that. Weaken, but not make useless :)

Alrighty, that's all I have for this one so, THANK YOU GUYS! And enjoy :)

* * *

It had only been about twenty minutes since Reid had left Emily but he was already beginning to have second thoughts. What if he was making a huge mistake? He couldn't help but think about the last time he made the decision to split up with a co-worker and that didn't end up very well for either of them. The problem was, there were so many variables in this situation that in all honesty, no matter what choice they made, it could easily be the worst.

Yes, in the scenario he'd chosen, Emily could be attacked by an animal, or Reid could be attacked or simply never find help in time. On the other hand, if they had stayed there, they likewise could potentially not be found in time. There was, in a way, no right or wrong decision so, given the condition they both were in, Reid couldn't help but think that this was the best option.

Regardless, there was no sense in thinking about it as there was no turning back now. So, Reid pressed on.

It wasn't easy though; he ached. Every part of him throbbed, it seemed, particularly his injured arm and most of all, his side. He knew he had done a number on his ribs and knew he was pushing it dangerously close to puncturing a lung or causing some other major condition. So, he tried to be smooth with his movements and do everything he could to avoid twisting his torso in any way. However, hiking up a mountain made that very difficult.

Reid took his eyes off the ground long enough to see the path ahead of him. He still had at least a mile of mountainside before he made it to the road, maybe even more and it may have just been him, but it seemed like the higher he climbed, the steeper the mountainside became. The air around him was chilly but it was actually pretty helpful in terms of keeping him awake so he was thankful for it even though it kept making him shiver.

Reid looked back down towards his feet in an attempt to try to plan his next steps. One foot in front of the other, he thought, as though it made anything better.

The truth was, he was not doing well and he knew it. Between the minimal amounts of water, little to no food, physical ailments and pure exhaustion, Reid knew he was pushing his body way too far. He began to remember stories of people who had survived being stuck in the wilderness and wondered if his and Emily's story would become one of those famous ones?

Reid began to imagine people inviting him and Emily to talk shows and being asked to write books, but thought that was rather comical given that they all had far too little time for such trivial things. No, this situation was really no different than other predicaments the team had found themselves in. After all, between them all they had been kidnapped, held hostage, in several explosions, infected with deadly diseases, shot, stabbed and the list went on and on, and yet none of them had been asked to write books or anything. Still, it was a funny thought.

Besides, their story didn't seem too exciting thus far, especially if they were found soon. The most trying part of their journey, at least as of yet, were various injuries. Reid smiled and decided he would be perfectly happen if their survival story remained too boring for the media.

However, Reid briefly began to wonder what the team was doing. Emily and Reid had now been out here for two nights and working on three days, which was definitely enough for the others to assume something bad had happened. Also, given that they were with the FBI, the team wouldn't have had to wait the three days before filing a missing persons report. So, chances were, the team had been looking for them and they may have even resorted to using the local media outlets to help get information.

Reid sighed as he considered how worried they must be. Hotch was probably more serious than ever, Morgan was probably losing his mind trying to find them, Garcia was probably… well, being Garcia. The point was, Reid knew that had things ended up differently and he was replaced with someone else on the team, he would be worried sick for his lost coworkers and friends.

Reid shook his head and tried to stop thinking about it. If all went as planned, the team would be seeing him and Emily before the day ended.

Reid kept moving for what seemed like forever, trying to watch his every step but that got increasingly harder and harder to do. He began to notice his eyes seemed to be playing tricks on him as every so often they would lose focus and he'd have to close them and refocus before opening them again. Then, his legs were not doing exactly as they were supposed to anymore. He was now taking smaller steps and sometimes, they would just seem to lock up and not move at all for a few seconds.

Reid tried to fight the increasing resistance his body was putting up, but after about another half hour and struggling with himself, his legs just completely gave out and he went crashing to the ground. Right before he landed, he put out his arms in an attempt to catch himself, but instead landed with most of his weight on his injured right arm.

As he hit the ground, he heard a sickening crack and then felt pain erupt throughout his arm and knew he had broken his arm.

Immediately, he rolled onto his back and pulled his injured arm against his chest and cradled it with his left arm. The pain was fierce and immense and before Reid could get his stomach under control, he felt bile rising in his throat and was able to turn onto his side just in time for him to vomit.

After deciding his stomach had been emptied of all contents, Reid pushed himself away from the mess a bit then laid back down against the leaves and dirt. It was only then did he realize his breathing had become a lot more labored. Though he was certain he had not ruptured a lung, he knew one of his ribs had shifted even closer to his lung as there was a rather dramatic increase in pain and pressure in his chest.

Reid was not sure how long he laid there, but as he got a bit more used to the pain and was able to think more clearly, he realized he had to keep going. He looked above him and saw just how close he was and knew that it was now or never.

Slowly and more carefully than ever, Reid pushed himself up into a sitting position but had to close his eyes against the added pain that came with the movement. He knew his arm would have to be wrapped up this time and also knew there was only one thing he could do.

He slowly began to take off his cardigan, trying his best to ignore the pain until he had finally gotten it all the way off. He then began to struggle with tying it with only one arm, a task that ended up taking at least fifteen minutes. When he finally had it tied sufficiently, he draped it around his neck then tried to take a deep breath in preparation for the next part.

Slowly, he cradled his broken arm and lifted it until it fell into place in his makeshift sling, all the while fighting back yells of pain. Once finished, he sat there breathing as deeply as he dared and trying to get himself under control.

Soon, despite his longing to stay there and fall asleep, Reid began to push himself back up. He stumbled, and tried to catch himself with his left arm on a tree. He stayed there for a second or two as he regained his balance, then set out once again.

He was pretty sure he was only running on adrenaline and pure determination at this point but as long as it kept him moving, he could deal with that. The good news was, though, he was getting extremely close to the road. The bad news was, the mountain _was_ getting steeper as he went up.

Reid stumbled along, his legs threatening to give out again but he pressed through the pain, through the exhaustion and kept looking at his destination for inspiration, knowing that he had to be close.

He began having to reach out a bit with his left hand and hold onto branches to help balance him and pull himself up as it got harder to climb up the mountain.

He stumbled often and went down to his knees twice, but each time, he found the energy and determination to pull himself back up. Despite the internal inspiration he was trying to give himself, it was nothing compared to the faint sound of a vehicle passing by not too far from where he was.

He was literally almost there.

His speed increased without him even realizing it and the adrenaline now flowing heavily through his veins pushed aside his pain and exhaustion just long enough to get to the point where the earth met pavement.

As though his body knew he had made it, or maybe it was because he had stopped moving, his legs gave out again and this time, it was his side that felt the brunt of the impact. Pain erupted throughout his entire body and suddenly, it was very difficult to breathe. He began coughing but hated the way he couldn't get a deep enough breath to manage a good cough.

Reid knew what had happened and therefore knew his time was running out. He looked up and down the road, his heart falling when he saw no cars but when he looked both ways once more, he saw something else.

About thirty yards down the road, he saw a couple of what looked like young males dressed in camouflage with a four-wheeler. They were laughing and talking to themselves on the side of the road and Reid knew they were his only chance.

He briefly thought about firing his weapon, but doubted that they would come running to a man who randomly just shot a gun.

"Hey!" he tried to yell, but it was barely audible and instead just resulted in a lot of coughing.

"Help!" Same painful attempt, same result.

As the pressure in his chest got worse and the world started spinning, Reid knew he was about to lose his grip on consciousness and if he did, he would most likely die and that would mean Prentiss would also have less of a chance at being found.

In a desperate attempt to find a way to get the boys' attention, Reid looked around him quickly and his eyes fell once more on his gun. He suddenly knew exactly what to do.

Using the last bit of strength he had, he lifted his arm with the gun in hand, and let it collide with the concrete road. The sound was loud and upon looking back up at the boys, he realized they had heard it as they had both stopped talking and were looking around. Once again, Reid took the gun, and let it fall to the ground.

This made the boys look his way and Reid waited, knowing they would have to see him, and sure enough, he saw one of the boys point at him. Immediately after, they began to run towards him.

He had been found.

Reid felt the world spinning even more and knew he was about to pass out, but he had to tell them something. They had to know.

"Hey!" one of the boys yelled before coming to rest at Reid's side. "What happened man?"

Reid saw the fear in their eyes, noting that they couldn't have been over seventeen years old, and realized he probably was quite the sight.

"She," Reid began, before coughing.

"She?" the other boy repeated, "She who?"

Reid was pleased to see that the other kid already had a rugged looking cell phone out, and turned back to the other boy.

"Car…. Crash," he said between small gasps of air. "Partner… down… there… hurt."

"There's another person…," the boy started before stopping with his eyes growing wide. "Holy crap, are you those missing FBI agents?"

Reid tried to nod but the boy had already turned to his friend.

"Dude! It's those FBI agents they've been looking for! The other one is down the mountain, I think!"

The boy on the phone seemed to panic but relayed the information to who Reid assumed were emergency operators.

"Uh no, he isn't breathing well and I have no idea where the other person even is," the kid continued on the phone.

Reid turned to the boy not on the phone and tried to speak.

"Emily… mile or… two down… mountain," he said, stopping briefly for coughing. He was about to continue when he saw the boy grow suddenly more scared and Reid looked down and realized he had just coughed up a small amount of blood.

Just then, Reid heard the kid on the phone yell, "Oh God, he just coughed up blood. Is he going to die?"

Reid let his head fall to the pavement, deciding he had done all he could and the rest was now up to fate. Reid was confident that, as long as Prentiss had managed to stay alive while he was gone, the rescuers would have no problem finding her. Despite his certainty of that, Reid was very uncertain of whether he would make it or not.

Deciding that he had completed his task either way, and upon hearing sirens faintly somewhere off in the distance, Reid allowed the darkness to engulf him and fell into oblivion.

* * *

**EN: **Yay! So what do you guys think? Reid's been found! What next? Hehe well anyway, I really hope you all liked it and thank you one last time! The next one will hopefully be up within the week but we'll see.


	9. Chapter 8

**AN: **Took me a while but not quite as long! Hope you guys enjoy it!

:)

* * *

The sound of a ringing phone pierced the dead silence of the room that currently housed the remaining members of the team. Hotch, who's attention had been caught up and in the next step of the investigation into the sudden disappearance of two of his agents, was startled by the sound but he quickly pulled himself together and answered.

"_Agent Hotchner,_" the man on the phone began immediately after Hotch had answered. "_I have some news._"

Hotch looked seriously at the remaining team members, trying to let them know this phone call was most likely about their missing co-workers and friends.

"What is it?"

"_I don't know the exact story yet, but apparently your agents crashed over the side of a mountain."_

His breath caught in his throat but he did the best he could to hide it from his team.

"_One of them managed to climb up the mountain and found some boys who alerted us and we're heading there now. I'm having one of my men send you the address. I'm not sure who was found but I believe they are already at the hospital downtown. I'll also have someone send you that address._"

Hotchner frowned. Only one of them had climbed up? Who had it been?

"And the other agent?" he continued. "Any news on them?"

There was a small pause on the other line. "Based on the recount of what your agent said, the other agent is still on the side of the mountain. We are mounting a rescue team as we speak."

Hotch nodded then said, "We're on our way," before hanging up the phone.

"They crashed over the side of a mountain," he immediately told his team as he forwarded the addresses over to Garcia. "One of them, I don't know who, managed to climb up the mountain and found help and they are currently preparing a rescue mission for the other."

"So they're both alive?" Morgan said as they all stood up and prepared to leave immediately.

"I don't know," Hotch answered truthfully. Whoever had climbed up the mountain could have easily used up the last bit of life they had to do so, and the one who was left was left for a reason, though hopefully it was not because they were dead. Truthfully, it could go either way for both of them at this point.

Just then, his phone rang again.

"Garcia, you have directions?"

"_Yes_," she replied quickly, "_Are they okay? The address is just for the side of a mountain… Oh God," she said suddenly. "They crashed, didn't they? It's been three days…"_

"Garcia," Hotch interrupted her. "Calm down. I need you to send me directions to both the site of the crash as well as to the hospital. Then, I'd like you to call the hospital and see if you can get any information. Apparently one of them was taken to that hospital and the other is about to be rescued, but I want to know who is where. Got it?"

"_Absolutely_," she replied quickly, then was gone.

Almostly immediately after hanging up, Hotch's phone vibrated and when he looked he realized he had gotten the directions to the mountainside. From what he could tell, the crash site was on the way to their downtown area, so they could all stop by the crash site first.

"Let's go," Hotch said to the team before they all got in their SUV's and drove off.

Hotch's mind was racing. This situation was very new to him… Usually, if his team members were in danger it was because of an unsub, not simple accidents. Then again, it technically could have been foul play. There was just no way to be sure right now, and if both agents didn't make it, they may never truly know.

Hotch sighed as he pushed the gas a bit harder. They were only about twenty minutes from the site, a fact that both relieved and unsettled him. They had been so close to them this whole time, how had they not been found?

The first indicator that they had arrived was the police blockade across the entire street and the multitudes of rescue workers and vehicles behind the barricade. After a few words with the guards, they were allowed past and Hotch immediately got out and walked up to the man they had been working with on this case, Sheriff Rutherford.

"What's going on?" Hotch asked quickly.

The sheriff took a deep breath. "We are about to go down there, me and three others, to see if we can locate the agent. Then, upon finding him or her, we'll try to see if there's an opening in the trees wide enough for a helicopter to lower a basket," he explained. "If not, we'll have to try and carry them back up, but that would not be the safest option."

Hotch nodded and was about to speak but was cut off by Morgan exclaiming, "I'm coming with you."

Once again, Hotch was about to speak but was interrupted, this time by Rutherford.

"Unless you've had intensive hiking experience, you'd just slow us down."

Morgan looked like he was about to argue with him, but Hotch quickly said, "He's right."

This quieted Morgan quickly and at the same time, Hotch's phone rang again.

"Go ahead, Garcia."

"_Well, after getting the run around and several minutes of holding, I got some info. It's Reid. He's the one at the hospital_," she said quickly. However, the news of who was in the hospital was not as unsettling as the tone of Garcia's voice.

"_He's listed in critical condition_," she continued. "I _don't know anything else_."

Hotch, though still extremely worried, was at least relieved by the fact that the young agent was still alive.

"Thank you, Garcia," Hotch said. "They're about to head down to begin the rescue mission, we'll keep you updated."

He hung up and shared the information with the team then turned to Rutherford.

"Her name is Emily Prentiss."

Rutherford nodded before turning to his own team of rescuers. "Emily Prentiss."

They all nodded and after and small nod of his head to Hotch and the team, Rutherford and his team set off down the side of the mountain.

"Morgan," Hotch said quickly, wasting no time. "You and JJ head to the hospital and keep us updated on Reid. Rossi and I will do the same for you."

The two of them nodded and set off immediately, leaving Rossi and Hotch to do nothing but sit and wait. Again.

* * *

_I am not a happy camper._

Emily smiled to herself at this thought. It was ironic, of course, given that she was essentially camping. Against her own will, perhaps, and with several ailments but nonetheless, she was currently camping out. It brought new meaning to that silly little saying about not being a happy camper and she was certain that if she ever heard someone else use that phrase, she'd probably have to smack them and explain, "You have no idea what it's like to be an unhappy camper."

The grin she wore faded along right along with the diminishing sunlight. Despite the much appreciated deviation from reality, the fact remained that it had been hours since she last saw Reid and as time continued to pass, Emily grew more and more positive that something terrible had happened to him and he hadn't found help.

Her first concern was not for herself, however, even though with him gone she really had no chance of survival. No, her first concern was what condition Reid was in. She kept picturing him lying on the ground, covered in blood and barely hanging on to life after a vicious animal attack. In this scenario, Emily partially hated herself for wishing that the animal would just kill him.

In other terrors of her mind, she saw him gasping for breath, drowning in his own blood.

Her stomach became queasier as these thoughts overcame her and had even resorted to vomiting once.

The fact of the matter was, given how late it was and there was no sign of Reid or anyone else for that matter, Emily would say she was up stream without a paddle.

Emily smiled again and wondered if there was a stream somewhere around here that she could get in and fulfill that little idiom as well.

With that grin fading as well, Emily sighed deeply. She was not the type to sit around and wait, but she was pretty sure that she could not physically walk.

Suddenly, a terrifying thought occurred to her: the night would be coming soon. She hadn't had to really experience it alone yet. Reid had been there for both of them so far and the second time she had been unconscious for the most part anyway. She hadn't had to sit there alone in the darkness surrounded by God only knows what kind of creatures.

With her heart now sufficiently pounding making her headache increase tenfold, Emily suddenly didn't want to deal with this at all. Any of it. Maybe death would be the best part of this whole experience.

Suddenly there was a noise in the distance and her heart froze. Her grip tightened on the gun and she practically stopped breathing, hoping she would be able to hear better and more importantly, hoping nothing could hear her.

She heard the sound again but this time, she frowned. It didn't sound like an animal or even just natural sounds of the forest. No, it sounded like…

"Emily Prentiss!"

Emily gasped. Unless she was just imagining it, someone was calling her name.

"Agent Prentiss!" someone called, "Are you out here?"

"Yes," she tried to yell, but the pain that erupted in her head afterwards was nearly unbearable. "I'm here…"

She was fairly certain she then heard someone say "We found her," then moments later, she saw people heading down towards her. She might just get to live after all.

She watched excitedly as her team of rescuers, four men, slowly made their way down to her and noticed that two of them were carrying a backboard apparently meant for her. She suddenly questioned how well they would be able to carry her up the mountain, but decided that they probably had a pretty good plan.

"Good to see you again, Agent Prentiss," one of the men said to her. Emily frowned, trying to place the man's face as she had apparently met him before, but couldn't quite remember him.

Instead, she smiled in response and replied, "Good to see you too."

"Hello Agent," and new man said to her, one Emily suspected to be the paramedic, as he got on his knees before her.

"How's Reid?" Emily asked right away, wanting to get that concern out of the way.

"Let's worry about you right now, okay?" He replied, making Emily's concern increase tenfold, but before she could say anything he was already touching her and asking questions.

"Can you tell me what hurts the most?"

Emily thought about it but found herself distracted by the other men who were suddenly walking around and looking up.

"Emily," the medic spoke again, trying to get her attention. "Can you answer my question?"

She tried to refocus and finally tried to answer him. "Um… mostly my head. I hit it on a rock or something."

"Did you lose consciousness?" the paramedic asked.

"Yes," Emily responded, "for hours but I think most of that was because I was exhausted. We both were. Ried…" she trailed off, remembering how Reid was probably even more tired than she had been and yet he had stayed up all night to watch over her.

"Please…," Emily said, "My co-worker, Spencer Reid, is he okay?"

The medic shook his head and immediately replied with, "I didn't see him and I don't know his condition at all. I'm sorry."

Though this news was not ideal, it also wasn't terrible.

"I found a spot!" she heard one of the men call and before she could look over at him, the medic was coming at her with something in his hands.

"This is a neck brace," he explained, apparently seeing her concern. "We have to leave it on just until they can clear you."

She allowed him to fasten the thing around her neck then felt it necessary to tell him one more thing.

"I think my left ankle is broken."

He nodded then grabbed something else from his bag before painfully wrapping it around her swollen ankle.

"Oh yeah," he said as he finished, "I'd say it's broken but the hospital will tell you for sure."

A few more minutes passed and as the medic began an IV, Emily was certain she heard a helicopter in the distance. As though reading her mind, the man who knew her returned.

"We found a spot where they can lower the basket," he told the medic, "it's just a few yards out."

The medic nodded. "Excellent," he said before turning back to Emily. "Let's get you on this backboard then, shall we?"

It really wasn't until Emily had been successfully laid out onto the backboard and was being lifted into the helicopter did she actually feel like the whole ordeal was coming to a close. She had managed to make it out of the mountainside alive, the only battle still to be had was to make sure Reid was alive. And despite the elation that came with this rescue, it was that final battle that had Emily still feeling more scared than relieved.

* * *

**EN: **So I had an internal battle over this one: until now you've only been with Emily and Reid but I really wanted to show the team and I thought it would be okay since Reid was found and Emily was next so... I took the rish. I know some of you will like it, some of you won't but that's why there's a comment button! Either way, if you didn't like it I really hope it didn't ruin it or completely throw you out of the story. As always, feedback is awesome but if not then thank you so much for just reading! Highly appreciated and I hope you come back for more! Okay :) Bye for now.


	10. Chapter 9

**AN: **I'm baaaaaack! Sorry it took so long but as a gift of guilt, this is a LONG chapter. Anyway, it's one of those necessary transition from hurt to comfort, if you will, which always have the possibility of just not coming out right. So I'm really hopingthis one is okay and you guys like it and think everyone is in character and all that jazz. Okay, enough talking :)

**Warning: **Slight spoilers for Minimal Loss in season 4

Okay, enjoy :)

* * *

Derek Morgan's heart raced as he pulled up to the small town's hospital and nearly bolted out of the SUV. Reid and Prentiss had been missing far too long and the rest of the team had only just discovered that the two had been trapped on the side of a mountain in some unknown condition. He was vaguely aware of JJ following behind him as he ran to the front desk and immediately began to address the desk clerk.

"Spencer Reid," Morgan said, skipping all pleasantries, "where is he?"

The clerk looked slightly overwhelmed for a moment but quickly recovered and began checking her computer.

"I don't see that name but…"

Suddenly, Morgan felt a wave of frustration hit him like a ton of bricks and wanted nothing more than to scream at the lady for her incompetence. It was a small town and the hospital was certainly not that full, surely she would have at least a little more information than this.

Before he could begin talking again, JJ gave him a look then began to speak to the woman.

"Ma'am, please," JJ said calmly, "He should have been brought in within the past hour or so and he's thin with dark hair… He's one of the missing FBI agents."

Realization finally dawned over the woman's face. "That's where I've seen you before," she said somewhat excitedly to JJ. "You're the lady on the news!"

His frustration building again at the fact that the woman seemed more interested by the 'lady on the news' than his potentially dying friend, Morgan was once again about to let this woman know a thing or two but JJ beat him to it.

"Yes, I am and right now, our coworker and friend is in here somewhere and we'd very much like to have some information on him," she said, not quite as calmly this time around.

Apparently sensing that these were people she did not want to mess with, the clerk nodded and said "Just one moment."

Morgan felt his stomaching clenching dangerously tighter as each second passed while the woman typed away at her computer. He was certain he was about to explode when she finally looked up.

"Ah, I see him now," the woman said brightly. "He was just taken up to surgery. I'll try to page his ER doctor and see if he can give you some information, otherwise, you can go straight up to surgery and wait for them to come out. I would suggest waiting for the doctor down here first, though, and then go up there because he'll probably be in surgery for a while."

Morgan let out a sigh, though not necessarily one of relief. Yes, Reid was currently alive but he had no idea how bad the injuries were but the fact that they were bad enough for surgery was enough to keep him more than worried.

"Thank you," Morgan heard JJ say. "We'll be in the waiting room."

Morgan, still lost in thought and concern, suddenly felt a hand on his back that lightly led him toward the waiting room chairs. He was thankful for JJ being there because this was one of the few scenarios that made it alarmingly difficult for Morgan to maintain control. JJ, on the other hand, triumphed in comforting others even when she was affected as well.

"What do you think happened?" Morgan asked suddenly, glancing over at JJ.

She shrugged and took a deep breath. "I have no clue," she spoke softly, "Could have been anything. An animal or another car… anything."

"Or someone did it on purpose."

JJ frowned. "Who though? We solved the case and I highly doubt the unsub was anywhere near that mountain as he would therefore be pretty close to the police station. You and I both know Flanders was not risky enough for that."

Morgan sighed. She was right, it was most likely just an accident and he wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. He spent his life catching bad guys and bringing them to justice and when something bad happened, in his experience, it was usually due to a very sick individual. That was just normal for him. But an accident that could have, and still may be the cause of the death of one or two of his friends… that was much harder for him to understand.

"Spencer Reid?"

Morgan's head shot up and the rest of his body followed suit until he was standing face to face with a weary looking doctor. JJ now at his side, she and Morgan stared expectantly at the doctor.

"Yes," JJ said, "we are here for him."

"Are you… family?" he asked, looking from JJ to Morgan.

Anger building once more in Morgan's gut, he reached quickly for his badge and it was all he could do not to slam it in the doctor's face.

The doctor looked from the badge to Morgan and finally sighed.

"Your friend was in bad shape," the doctor began, a statement that made Morgan's stomach clench. "He had a tension pneumothorax which was caused by a broken rib tearing his lung."

Suddenly Morgan felt sick to his stomach and he listened to this doctor. He noticed JJ put her hand over her mouth through his peripheral and knew she wasn't taking the news too well either.

"A pneumothorax is the buildup of air around the lungs and a tension pneumothorax is basically when there is enough air building up that it begins to disrupt other organs, such as both lungs and/or the heart. In Dr. Reid's case, it sent him into respiratory failure and surprisingly quickly," the doctor said with a curious look. "Has he had any other problems in his lungs that you know of?"

Morgan looked at JJ and immediately thought of Reid's battle against anthrax.

"Not that I know of," JJ answered quickly.

The doctor looked skeptical but apparently decided to leave it alone. "Either way, we were able to stabilize him enough to be sent to surgery where they will attempt repair the tear as it was too large to heal on its own."

"What are his chances?" Morgan asked.

"We don't like to think in terms of percentages, Agent, but it could honestly go either way. The repairing of the tear itself is not as worrisome as keeping him stable and alive while they make the repair," he explained. "That being said, we have amazing surgeons up there that will do everything they can so I'd say he has a pretty good chance."

Just then, a nurse came up to the doctor.

"We have someone coming via chopper," she said quickly, ignoring Morgan and JJ. "It's one of the FBI agents but it doesn't sound too bad."

Morgan and JJ looked at each other then back to the doctor who realized they probably knew this incoming FBI agent as well.

"Excuse me," the doctor said and then left before they could say anything else.

"They have Prentiss?" Morgan asked quickly, turning to JJ.

"I guess so," she said, a small smile forming on her face. "That nurse said she wasn't bad, though."

Morgan nodded and suddenly felt his phone vibrating.

"Morgan," he answered, currently unsure of how to feel.

"_Morgan, it's Hotch," _Hotch said quickly before continuing, "_Prentiss is being transported there in the helicopter and from what I understand she seems to be alright. Any news on Reid?_"

Morgan sighed in relief upon hearing yet again that Prentiss was seemingly okay but it was short-lived as he knew he was about to have to break the news about Reid.

"He's alive," Morgan replied, feeling it was the best way to say it. "But it's pretty bad. A broken rib tore his lung and they have him in surgery now."

There was a short moment of silence before Hotch's voice reappeared, but this time he sounded a bit more tense. "_Okay let me know if anything changes and we'll be there shortly._"

Morgan hung up the phone and put it in its holder before turning to JJ.

"That is Prentiss in the helicopter and the rest are on their way," he said, filling her in. "Hotch said he heard Prentiss was doing well too."

JJ sighed and smiled for a moment, "Well that's good news."

Morgan nodded. "Yeah, let's just hope it keeps coming."

* * *

Emily had ridden in a helicopter on more than one occasion and actually found them to be very… cool. There were loud but other than that, there was something exhilarating about being so high up and able to move more freely than a place could. That being said, this was the first time she had ridden in MediVac as an injured patient and it may have been due to her head wound, but she didn't seem to care for this particular helicopter ride very much.

Despite this, the ride was extremely short and before she really knew it, she was being pulled from the copter and placed on a gurney. Then, as if they appeared from nowhere, there were nurses and a doctor around her as they wheeled her into the building.

Emily looked around and up at the passing lights on the ceiling, feeling somewhat mesmerized. She was obviously in the hospital but beyond that everything seemed so surreal and being stuck out on that mountain seemed like a century ago.

"Agent Prentiss," someone spoke, causing Emily to look around until she found who she assumed was the doctor. "Hi there, my name is Doctor Farlow. Can you tell me where you are?"

Emily wanted to roll her eyes, knowing all of these silly questions they asked but she answered it anyway. "Hospital."

"Yes," the doctor confirmed, "and can you tell me what happened to you?"

"Car crash," she replied, thinking back to the totaled SUV lying in the valley of a mountain.

"Very good," he replied, sounding as if he were talking to a child, "what's going to happen now is we're going to take you into a room where we can examine you and make sure you're alright, and after that, we'll take you to get some x-rays, okay?"

Emily nodded, ignoring the pain in her head. The truth was, her head hadn't been nearly as bad as before. She still ached all over and she knew that she wasn't thinking completely clearly, but she was certain that the life-threatening part was pretty much over for her. Reid was a different story, however.

"My colleague," Emily said suddenly, "Agent Spencer Reid… have you seen him? Is he okay?"

Emily did not miss the look on the doctor's face as he clearly was considering the answer pretty hard. Finally, he smiled and replied, "He's alive and in surgery. But let's worry about you right now."

Emily decided this was better than nothing, especially since she had expected to get no answer at all. This being said, while Reid being alive was certainly good news, the fact that he was in surgery confirmed her fears that something pretty bad had happened to him. Emily closed her eyes and willed herself not to think about it right now.

The next half-hour or so went exactly as the doctor had said. After having been poked and prodded and examined by various people, she was taken to the x-ray room where she had to painfully move her swollen ankle about. Then they took some of her head, helped clean of the dried blood and dirt, and finally placed her in a nice, private room.

"Alright, Agent Prentiss," Dr. Farlow began as he looked over his charts, "you have a choice; I can either give you the results right now or I can let your friends in and tell you all at once. It all depends on if you're ready for visitors."

With this statement, it finally struck Emily that the rest of her team would be there. Obviously they would have been alerted and therefore would be at the hospital. She suddenly felt a girlish excitement wash over her at the idea of seeing them.

"They can come in," she said with a smile. Dr. Farlow, who clearly preferred to give this information only once, gladly exited the room and returned a short time later followed by JJ, Hotch and Rossi, all of whom were beaming.

Immediately, JJ came over to Emily's bedside and softly wrapped her arms around Emily. Emily smiled as she gave into the hug and appreciated it. JJ broke away and Emily took that time to look at the others who both looked relieved as well. They gave nods that held meaning; they were glad to see her. The only ones who were still missing were Morgan, Garcia and, of course, Reid but Morgan was mostly likely waiting for news on Reid and Garcia was still in Quantico.

"I'll make this fast so you guys can talk," Dr. Farlow said, looking around the room. "Simply put, you're going to be just fine. You were quite dehydrated, but that is being taken care of through your IV, and your ankle is definitely broken but given time and physical therapy, you will no doubt make a full recovery there."

The news was great and Emily loved looking at her coworkers and seeing the relief spread.

"Other than that, plenty of bumps, bruises and lacerations, a few of which we'll be keeping an eye on for a little while and finally, the most worrying, your head injury," he said, his tone a bit more serious now. "You suffered a pretty nasty trauma to the head and I'm sure you felt the majority of its effects while you were out there. But at this given time, I do not think it will be causing any major damage but we'll be keeping an eye on it.

All in all, Agent, you were very lucky but you will definitely be quite sore for a while."

Emily decided she could live with being sore. "Thank you."

"No problem," the doctor said, "if you need anything, call."

Emily nodded and watched as he left the room and the moment he did, an awkward silence followed. Emily knew why and wasn't surprised. The team had gone nearly three straight days without seeing or hearing from Emily or Reid and now, all of the sudden, they were in the room with one of them. It was even a little weird for Emily. But the moment thankfully passed quickly.

"Glad to have you back, Prentiss," Hotch spoke first, his normally stern tone lighter now.

"Glad to be back," Emily replied, then added with a chuckle, "Believe me."

Another silence filled the room again until Emily couldn't stand it. She knew the question of what had happened was on all of their minds, but she decided to postpone the talk a little longer.

"Did you solve the case?"

"Yes we did," Rossi answered. "It was a man named Anthony Flanders. He was kidnapping the children under the delusion that they were his own. We found them all alive."

Emily felt a huge weight come off her shoulders, which surprised her. Honestly, the case had hardly been on her mind while they were out there, but the fact that something so amazing had happened even while she was stuck in a horrible situation made her feel better about the whole thing.

"Wow," she responded, "that doesn't happen too often."

Emily loved the lightness in the room at this fact because it was true, rarely did they solve a case and not lose a single person. But the happiness faded as she remembered Reid and the fact that she had no idea if he'd survive or not.

"Have you guys heard anything about Reid?" Emily asked, looking around at all of them. "I know he's in surgery but… anything else?"

The question seemed to hang in the air while they considered the answer, which made Emily more and more nervous. Finally, as expected, Hotch was the one to answer.

"The doctor told us there was a buildup of air in his chest due to his rib tearing a hole in his lung," he spoke slowly and with a hint of concern, something the Unit Chief usually tried to hide in order to remain strong for his team. "But the doctor believes he has a good chance."

Emily sighed then because her fears had been confirmed: the climb to save her life had caused Reid to increase his own injuries to a dangerous level.

"I knew this would happen," she breathed to herself, though the others heard.

"Emily, there's no way you could have known…," JJ began, but Emily shook her head.

"You don't understand," Emily replied.

"Then help us to," Rossi said quietly from his chair in the corner of the room.

Emily sighed and took a deep breath and thought back to the events of the past three days.

"I don't really remember why we crashed," she confessed, a fact that alarmed her greatly. "But I was the one driving and one minute we were on the road and Reid was going on about something we heard on the radio," she recalled and noticed a lighter tone in the room as she talked about Reid being Reid. But the tone changed once more as she continued.

"The next thing I know we're barreling down the side of a mountain… I know the car flipped at least once and… I blacked out sometime during the fall. Then when I woke up it was the early morning and Reid… he was still unconscious. I tried to wake him, but he wouldn't and I didn't want to touch him, just in case…"

She stopped as she remembered seeing him so lifeless and pale and suddenly felt herself getting sick to her stomach.

"A very good choice," Hotch said, clearly sensing Emily's pain over this thought. It was enough to get her back on track.

"Anyway, I left him just so I could go and see if there was anything nearby but there was absolutely nothing so when I went back to the car, Reid was gone. Turns out he crawled his way out then passed out again in the grass," she remembered with a smirk, finding it amazing how he had managed to do all that in the short time she'd been gone.

"See, we both knew then that he had pretty severely broken some ribs and we knew the possibility of puncturing a lung was high," Emily continued, her heart starting to race. "But… but he was able to walk and everything. We spent the night in the SUV and made a plan that, as I'm sure you guessed, involved hiking up the mountain."

Emily took a deep breath and looked at all of them and was relieved to see that no one was judging, just intently listening.

"The hike went well for a while," she continued, "we only had one bottle of water though so we could only have a sip every now and then but we were doing fine until…"

Emily closed her eyes as she considered the turning point of the whole ordeal; her own clumsiness.

"I fell."

"Fell?" JJ said after Emily did not elaborate right away. "What do you mean?"

"I slipped and fell," she explained, half embarrassed, half ashamed. "I don't know how far because I hit my head on the way down and was out for a while because the next thing I remember is waking up during the night and Reid was awake."

Emily closed her eyes again as the details kept getting more and more painful.

"He actually stayed up all night long to keep watch, can you believe it?" Emily said with a smile. "Broken ribs and a concussion and everything else but he was able to stay up all night and then, the next day, he informs me that he's going to climb the rest of the way."

This was the first time she had lucidly gone over all of this and suddenly became so angry at herself for letting this happen.

"And I knew he was going to make his condition worse," she said, now fighting tooth and nail against the urge to cry. "I let him go, though."

"Emily," JJ interrupted, "You both made a good decision given the situation."

"Only if he lives," Emily replied absent mindedly. She knew the bluntness of the statement was sharp and painful for all of them, but she couldn't help it right now.

"That's not true," Rossi said suddenly, now standing beside Emily. "When you and Reid were in that compound and Cyrus was ready to attack the FBI agent, why did you volunteer and why do you think he let you?"

Emily bit her lip as she thought back to the situation. "I… well for different reasons."

"Like what?" Hotch pitched in.

"Like…," Emily began, then answered the best she could. "Well, it was better for the sitation. I knew Reid would have a chance at getting close to Cyrus whereas I had no chance. We needed him to get close to Cyrus."

"And he did," Rossi continued. "You made a sacrifice in the hope that it would lead to saving lives and that's exactly what Reid did. Had he not gone for help, there's a good chance neither of you would have been found in time."

"That's right," Hotch chimed in, "we hadn't considered that area yet."

Silence fell over the room and Emily took their words to heart. Reid had been right after all; had they not gone to find help, they wouldn't have been found in time. And she and Reid had been in a bad situation together before and worked together to make it out alive. In that case, Reid had been forced to allow Emily to be beaten to better their chances of more people being saved and in this case, Emily had been forced to allow Reid to leave alone, knowing that he would probably become more injured. Now if only Reid would stay alive…

"Why don't you get some rest?" JJ said softly, interrupting Emily's thoughts.

Emily was extremely exhausted but she didn't want to sleep knowing that they could get very important information about Reid.

"We promise to wake you up as soon as we know anything."

Emily sighed and nodded.

"Thank you," she said, "all of you. And tell Morgan and Garcia I said hello."

They all smiled and Emily finally let herself relax some. Not everything was okay but her getting a little sleep was not going to make a difference either. She sank deeper into her pillows, letting the steady beeping of the monitors slowly take her away…

* * *

**EN: **Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm having Reid withdrawls so expect to see him in the next chapter, which may also be the last. Either way I hoped you guys liked this one and come back for the rest. And as always, I hope it will be sooner rather than later but life is crazy. Bye for now, though!


	11. Chapter 10

**AN: **Hello! So, if you're reading this, you're either new to the story or a loyal reader because wow, did I make you guys wait. I'm sorry! I'm not going to bore you with excuses just know life called and I had no choice but to answer. The other, more relevant reason will be discussed below.

**Warning: **Lots of medical stuff follows, which leads me to another reason it took so long. I researched and researched and researched and while I got a lot of information, there was nothing that was 100% clear for the situation I put Reid in, so I did the best I could with the info I found. It took so long because I would spend an hour researching, not feel confident with my plans, and get frustrated and just put it off. So finally, I decided I would just do my best. My hope is that anyone who knows the medical field pretty well finds my mistakes to be at least somewhat logical and easy to overlook. Bottom line, I hope that everyone enjoys it, even if it's not perfectly factual.

Alright, enough blabbering. Here you go!

* * *

Aaron Hotchner sat quietly in the hospital waiting room, as he had done too many times before, only this time, there were two of his agents being treated. Hotch fought back the urge to hang his head in disgust. He was unsure if it was a character flaw or strength, but every time one of his team members was injured to any degree, he took it as a personal failure. He was the team leader and while he knew he had no real hand in what had transpired this time, the fact was he felt guilty.

Hotch glanced around at the others in the room, studying his team members and gaging their reactions. Morgan, as predicted, was the easiest to read as he was the most visibly concerned. Morgan had played the role of Reid's big brother since the beginning and if there was anyone who took Reid being injured as a personal failure as much as Hotch did, it was Morgan. Then there was JJ who was also visibly worried, but there was also a strange sort of peace that only JJ was able to pull off. Finally, Rossi played his role in the team well: he could sympathize and relate to everyone else much better than Hotch could, but he also maintained composure and therefore offered further reassurance for everyone else.

Aaron was aware of the fact that he showed little to no emotion as he felt it was more appropriate for the leader to behave as such, but he also knew that it wasn't always reassuring. So, between Rossi and himself, the rest of the team had a solid base to turn to and feed off of in times of despair such as these.

That, in no way, meant that Hotch didn't feel these emotions, however. Truthfully, he felt almost sick as he contemplated the idea of losing Reid. Reid was more than the youngest, the mascot, he was an invaluable member of the team that proved himself time and time again. More than that, he was still so young. It bewildered Hotch to think of what he may know in five years, or ten.

Aaron took a deep breath and tried to remain positive, though it was becoming difficult. Waiting was always the hardest part and they had already been doing it for at least an hour.

"Spencer Reid."

Hotch's head shot up just then to see an older man holding a clipboard and glancing at them.

Immediately, Hotch stood up and walked towards the doctor, followed by the others. The doctor glanced over all of them, realizing that there was no way they were all his family.

"His next of kin is listed as an 'Aaron Hotchner'," the doctor said, his tone tired but polite.

Hotch had known that Reid named him as the next of kin, but he wasn't sure if the others knew. As it no longer mattered, Aaron took out his badge and heard the others following suit. "I'm Aaron Hotchner, with the FBI, as are they," he said, gesturing to the rest of them. "We would all like to hear how he is doing."

The doctor looked from badge to badge, back to his chart, then apparently decided to give in. He took a very deep breath then began.

"Right, well I'm Dr. Ragland and I was Dr. Reid's surgeon," Dr. Ragland began."Dr. Reid suffered from a tension pneumothorax, which is basically when too much pressure is being placed on the internal organs, particularly the lungs. In Dr. Reid's case, one of his ribs was so badly broken and displaced that it literally tore a hole in his right lung, collapsing it and filling the chest cavity with excess air, hence the tension pneumothorax. And it was this buildup that nearly collapsed the other lung as well before we got to it. Simply put, it was our job to repair the hole in his lung so it could function properly and release the built up air."

Hotch sighed at the rather vivid imagery. Although he saw blood and guts frequently, he had a difficult time picturing the insides of the people he cared about.

"So how is he?" Morgan asked pointedly.

"Right now we have him hooked up to a ventilator to help him breathe until he is able to do so on his own," Dr. Ragland replied. "Our worry is that the ventilator, while necessary right now, may put too much pressure on his left lung, which as I said, was severely weakened during the tension pneumothorax. He will be heavily monitored of course."

"If it puts too much pressure on the other lung," Hotch began, wanting to make sure he knew every possibility, "what exactly happens and how is it treated?"

Dr. Ragland nodded. "The lung would then collapse, causing a pneumothorax. It would not be as severe as the tension pneumothorax and would at worst need a chest tube to drain the excess air in his chest. It's a fairly common procedure. And I reiterate, his oxygen levels will be very closely monitored. So overall, I'm hopeful for a full recovery once we determine whether his left lung will hold out. Long and painful, but full."

A moment passed in which everyone took in the information.

"Thank you," JJ broke the silence softly in a tone that could soothe anybody even though it was still heavily laced with concern.

"When will we be able to see him?" Rossi then asked, always the one to jump to the point.

The doctor consulted his charts once again, then answered, "Right now we are doing last minute tests, just to make certain the procedure was successful. After that, he'll be moved to another room where he'll have a different doctor and from there, it's up to them. In this case, I'd say you'd be able to visit in maybe an hour or two, but don't quote me on that."

Hotch nodded. "Thank you."

Dr. Ragland nodded professionally then walked away, leaving the team standing in silence for a moment or two. Hotch used the time to consider what the man had said and its implications. Reid was most likely going to be alright. Though Hotch was not completely certain, the thought was reassuring nonetheless.

"We need to inform both Garcia and Prentiss," Hotch said, wanting to make sure everyone was on the same page. He could only imagine how worried Garcia was as she had been kept out of the loop due to her location and then, of course, there was Emily who still felt guilty about the whole thing. They both needed to know that Reid was going to be alright.

"I'll call Garcia," Morgan suggested.

"JJ and I will talk to Emily," Rossi said then, glancing knowingly at Hotch. Rossi usually seemed to understand Aaron the most and in this case, he understood that Aaron wanted to stay here, just in case there were any changes with Reid.

Hotch nodded, trying to convey the gratitude he felt. Hotch then watched as the rest of them left before returning to his seat.

* * *

Morgan needed to get out and get some air. He hated hospitals. He legitimately hated hospitals from the bottom of his heart because he was never in them for a good reason. Always something painful, even if he wasn't dealing with people he knew.

Then, in this case, two people he cared about were stuck in there. Emily and Reid both meant a lot to him so seeing them injured, or waiting to hear if they would live or not… it really took its toll. Morgan felt angry, worried, drained and several other things. And as much as he wanted to go right into whatever room Reid was in, he knew he couldn't and therefore the only other option was to get some air.

He walked outside the hospital and sighed as the pleasantly cool air hit his face. It was only then that he realized how hot his face had been, no doubt a reaction to his heightened emotions. Morgan took a deep breath in and then grabbed his phone. He knew Garcia was probably dying for information right now and honestly, he wanted to hear her voice.

He clicked on her name in his phonebook, then brought the ringing phone up to his ear.

"_Derek Morgan, I swear to God I've been sitting here, practically in tears, waiting to hear any news on my precious babies and have not heard a word. You better be telling me they are a-okay or we are going to have a big problem," _she erupted before the phone could even get though one ring. She had clearly been sitting and staring at it.

Either way, he couldn't help but smile at her words. She was quite obviously very worried, but she had managed to maintain her wonderful self at the same time, which is exactly why Morgan was glad he took the job to tell her.

"Hey Babygirl," he said lightly, hoping that would set the tone for the pretty good news to come. "Emily is fine. Pretty banged up, but she's alright. Reid," Morgan started, taking a slight pause as he thought about how to word it. "His condition was a bit more serious but he just got out of surgery and the doc says he expects a full recovery, they just have to watch him for a while."

There was silence on the other end followed by a heavy sigh. "_Oh dear God,_" she said quickly. "_I could have sworn you were going to say one of them was… No, no… not even possible. Okay, okay. So what is wrong with my junior G-man?_"

Morgan sighed as he tried to recall what the doctor had said. "Something about his lungs, I don't know. One collapsed, they fixed it, but they think the other may collapse."

"_Really? Then he'd need more surgery?"_

"No," Morgan replied as he tried to remember the exact wording. "A… chest tube," he said, now recalling how the thought of that had still made him sick. "He said it was a common procedure."

Silence met him on the phone and he was certain that Garcia was just as put off by the news as he had been.

"Babygirl, listen to me," he said calmly, "If Reid can survive kidnapping and being blown up, shot and anthrax, he can handle this."

"_You're right,_" she said after another short moment of silence. "_You're absolutely right. He may be small but he's got the strength of an angry alligator."_

Morgan frowned at this analogy but did not have time to further contemplate it.

"_You get back in there and keep me slightly, or a lot, better updated on my babies, you understand?_"

Morgan smiled and once again realized just how much he appreciated that woman. "I understand."

"_Good,_" she replied quickly. "_Now go. Ta-ta for now!_"

There was a click and with that, she was gone. Morgan, still smiling, put his phone away and walked back into the hospital, a little less bitter than before.

* * *

Rossi walked calmly into Emily's room, along with JJ, and was pleased to see that she was still asleep. It must have been quite the ordeal for her, for both of them, and sleep was perhaps the best cure of all.

"Should we wake her?" JJ whispered.

Rossi considered it for a smallest of seconds, but knew the answer all along.

"Would you want us to wake you?" he asked, wanted her to realize for herself which was the best choice. As expected, JJ nodded and walked further into the room, closer to Emily. Rossi then watched as JJ sat softly on Emily's bed and lightly placed her hand on Emily's shoulder.

"Emily," she said quietly, "We have some news."

For some reason, Rossi was expecting the process of waking Emily to take longer, but instead her eyes popped right open.

"Hey," Prentiss said groggily, looking from JJ to Rossi. She shifted - Rossi noted the pain etched on her face - and sat up a bit more. "How's Reid? He okay?"

JJ then looked to Rossi who realized her attempt to get him to answer this one, and so he did.

"Seems that way," he said truthfully. "They seem pretty certain the surgery was a success and now they just have to keep him monitored."

"So his lungs are fine?" Emily asked hopefully.

"Well, that's what they're monitoring," JJ answered this time. "The lung that was punctured was fixed but the other… well it was weakened, or something like that, so they are worried the ventilator may collapse it."

Rossi watched Emily's reaction carefully and was upset, though not surprised, to see her concern grow at this.

"He's on a ventilator? So his lungs aren't okay?" she spoke quickly and Rossi noticed one of the machines attached to her beep a little faster.

"He just had surgery on them," Rossi interjected, trying to calm her before the nurses came and kicked them out. "Of course they're not going to be perfect right away. They'll probably remove it soon."

This seemed to be the right mix of comfort and a slap of reality to calm her down. She sank a bit deeper into her pillows and her face relaxed.

"I don't like ventilators," she said softly. "They make it seem so much worse."

"They do," JJ agreed quietly.

Silence filled the room for a bit before Emily spoke up again.

"When can you visit him?"

"They said in about an hour or two," Rossi replied, "So hopefully soon."

Emily nodded and seemed to be thinking about something. "I'd like to visit him as soon as possible. I want to thank him for getting us out of there."

Rossi nodded in understanding then looked to JJ who didn't seem sure. It was a natural reaction of a mother to want to keep the sick and injured resting in bed for as long as possible, but Rossi knew Emily would be much better off after seeing and hopefully talking to Reid.

"We'll see what we can arrange," Rossi said confidently, noting the reassured expression on Emily's face.

"Until then you should go back to sleep," JJ added. "You know we will wake you as soon as we know anything."

Emily nodded and seemed to relax even more. Whether it was the drugs, the injuries, the whole ordeal or a mixture of all three, the injured agent still seemed exhausted so Rossi agreed with JJ's motherly instinct.

"She's right," Rossi said. "Get some rest. It will make it easier for me to convince the nurses you should be allowed a field trip."

Emily smiled at this and nodded. "Thanks guys."

Rossi and JJ stood up, wished her well once more, then left her in peace. Despite the terrifying past couple of days, things were really starting to work out nicely.

* * *

The world felt… heavy. Far too heavy to be real and certainly far too heavy to be comfortable. However, that was the first sensation Spencer Reid was aware of. It was somewhat humorous how confusing everything could be upon waking up and how the senses slowly came back to you, almost one at a time.

The next thing he came to realize was not so much another sense, but an addition to the previous one; the heaviness very quickly managed to turn into pain. It went from a dull ache all over his body to a dull ache all over with the addition of a few epicenters of sharp, stabbing pains. Most of which were located in his chest.

He slowly became aware of distant sounds at this point, but they were pushed to the back of his priority list whenever he became aware of something far more terrifying: his breathing was all wrong. He was not breathing for himself at all. Mechanically, oxygen was filling his lungs and just as mechanically being released. More alarming was the fact that something else was definitely wrong. It did not take his 'genius' IQ to realize that not only was he on a ventilator, but there was also some sort of complication.

He wanted to cough, he wanted it out right now and had every intention of pulling the thing out himself had it not been for the heaviness holding his arms down in submission.

"Reid," came a distant voice that he didn't quite understand.

He continued to try to fight, try to breathe as he felt a pressure growing in his chest more and more.

"Reid!"

The voice was louder and Reid decided to try to focus on it. Just then, more sounds, namely beeping, filled his ears as well as other voices. Deciding that these sounds were worth investigation in his current state of panic, Reid forced his eyes open.

"That's right, Reid, focus," the voice, clearly belonging to the figure hovering above him, said loudly. "Come on, Reid, listen to the doctor."

Doctor? Yes, that made sense, Reid had already determined that he was in a hospital. He blinked several times, still trying to overcome the sheer panic of not being able to breathe, and realized that it was Hotch who was standing over him. In an instant, Reid saw deep concern covered by determination in his boss' dark features. This concern was enough to get Reid to calm down just enough for the doctor to move in.

"Hi Dr. Reid," a kind, younger woman said quickly, but plainly. "As you may have noticed, you have a tube down your throat helping you breathe. We are going to remove it but unfortunately, it has caused your left lung to collapse."

Reid tried to listen, tried to keep up and while he heard what she was saying, his nerves were getting harder and harder to control. His lung had collapsed? That was a pneumothorax. Pneumothoraces were treated with surgery in rare, but severe cases, a chest tube in moderate cases or rest and monitoring in mild cases.

"After we remove the tube, we will be inserting a chest tube between your ribs," she continued, still very quickly but her tone began to soften. "It will be very painful, but you will begin to feel the pressure subside almost immediately. Do you understand?"

Reid looked at her, then over to Hotch who was looking right back at him. Reid returned his gaze back to the doctor and nodded.

"Great," she replied, "On the count of three, I want you to blow out as hard as you can. Ready?"

Reid closed his eyes for a split second, during which he felt a hand grab a hold of his own and squeeze. He opened his eyes and realized Hotch was currently holding his hand for support. Feeling more confident with the addition of human contact, Reid nodded indicating he was ready for what he knew would be a very uncomfortable and painful ordeal.

"One," she started slowly, her hands grabbing a hold of the various instruments.

"Two." Reid closed his eyes and focused on the task at hand: breathe out as hard as he could.

His hand tightened around Hotch's as he knew it was time.

"Three."

* * *

**EN: **There you are! Okay, so again, apologies for the wait and any problems with the medical aspects. Finally, the next (and probably last for real this time) chapter will NOT take as long. I promise that! Not that it will be posted tomorrow (although it might, I really don't know) but definitely not as long.

Either way, thanks for coming back and I love you all!


	12. Chapter 11

**AN: **Okay so this chapter was a surprise to me. I had no real intentions of making this moment as long as I did but I blame it on my first obsession: ER. You'll see what I mean.

**Warning: **As before, I researched the medical stuff but I know I made some mistakes. Hopefully anyone familiar with the medical field will not be too distracted by them. Also, this is not beta'd.

Finally, seeing as how this chapter was a surprise to me, it's not as long as my usual chapters and you can definitely expect more for the next one.

Either way, hope at least some of you enjoy!

* * *

Everything had happened so fast. One minute Hotch was sitting in a silent waiting room, the next minute he was being rushed back to Reid's room. He had been sitting by himself for a good hour or so when a nurse hurried out to him asking if he was with Reid and when he said yes, the nurse told him to come with her.

His initial reaction was that of pure terror: was Reid dying? Was there a complication and they were trying to give both Reid and whoever was there for him one last chance to say goodbye? But Hotch decided there were other possibilities and tried to remain positive as he followed the nurse through what seemed to be a maze of white walls.

When they entered Reid's room, Hotch was alarmed to see quite a few medical personnel because that usually meant something wasn't going right. He walked in and focused his attention on Reid. The young agent was pale with various machines hooked up to him, a large cast covering most of his right arm and the sheet that was on him only went up waist high, showing off his badly bruised torso. But perhaps the most alarming sight the tube running from his mouth. It had all been so overwhelming that Hotch didn't realize the doctor was trying to talk to him.

"Sir?" she said with a mixture of urgency and annoyance.

Hotch snapped out of it, deciding that he had been asked to come here for a reason and he needed to know that reason.

"Yes," he replied, stepping closer to the doctor. "I'm sorry, what can I do?"

"We are about to take him off the ventilator," she replied, wasting absolutely no time. "But it appears as though his left lung has collapsed. We will immediately have to insert a chest tube after removing the ventilator, and all of this while he is awake."

Hotch frowned and stared at the woman as a million questions formed in his head, the most important being why did Reid had to be awake?

"He is about to wake up, and this is going to be very painful and very frightening so we thought it might help having someone he knows here for support," the doctor continued.

Hotch nodded and it was then that he realized Reid did seem to be more active. His arm would twitch slightly every now and then and the muscles in his face were moving some too. Hotch felt his stomach clench at the idea of Reid waking up to this, but he suddenly felt a great deal of gratitude for the medical team to allow him to come in and be there for Reid.

"You up for the job?" the doctor asked, a question that she meant. She, no doubt, had seen loved ones who were unable to see someone they cared about in a lot of pain like Reid was about to be in. But Hotch was not one of those people so he nodded and walked right up to the bed and focused his attention on his youngest agent. He watched silently for a moment as Reid was continuing to regain consciousness.

"Reid," he said softly at first, gaging the young man's reaction. There was a slight twitch in his eyebrows and Hotch had briefly noticed his lips move a bit as well, but he tried not to focus on Reid's mouth as the breathing tube was highly unsettling.

All of the sudden, the machines began to beep faster and Reid's body began to move more. The breath caught in Hotch's throat as he saw nothing but panic etched in every movement Reid made.

"He's waking up," the doctor called to everyone in the room then looked specifically at Hotch, "Talk to him. He's realizing he can't breathe on his own and is panicking."

Hotch nodded, and tried to focus despite the fear growing in his stomach and the terrifying sight before him.

"Reid," he began, saying the first things that came to mind. "Listen to me, you're okay."

He watched for a moment, hoping Reid would show some sign of relaxing but there was no such thing.

"Reid!" Hotch tried again as the monitor's beeping increased in frequency. Reid was clearly terrified and so far Hotch was doing nothing to help him.

Just then, however, Hotch noticed Reid's eyes flicker open once, then twice, then finally stayed open for more than a second.

"That's right, Reid, focus," Hotch spoke softly, saying whatever came to mind as he watched Reid's eyes scan the room frantically. Hotch looked up briefly to meet the doctor's eyes and realized she was wanting to move in and do her job.

"Come on, Reid, listen to the doctor," Hotch said, stepping aside just a bit to allow the doctor to move in.

Hotch heard her speaking, but wasn't really taking in what she was saying. He knew it was about time to take out the breathing tube and insert the chest tube, as they so bluntly referred to it, and he found himself simply preparing for what was coming.

As the Unit Chief of one of the most elite branches of the FBI, Hotch never quite knew what to do in situations like this. Or rather, he felt out of place. It wasn't that he didn't want to be able to support his team in any way they needed it, he simply was stronger in other areas. JJ was best in a situation like this, or maybe even Morgan.

Then again, Aaron Hotchner was not only the Unit Chief of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, he was also a father. And any good father, including Hotch, knew how to be there for a sick or injured son. So, in the split second in which he heard the asking if Reid was ready, he chose to see Reid as his son who was scared and in pain, and not one of his agents.

Without further hesitation, Hotch reached down and grabbed Reid's hand. Immediately, Reid's eyes found Hotch's and the next thing he knew, the doctor was counting down.

On 'three' the doctor exclaimed "blow out!" then pulled the tube from Reid's mouth. All at once, there was a flurry of movement amongst the doctor and the nurses as they worked to remove the tube and do whatever else they had to do. Hotch, however, kept his focus on Reid who was sent into a coughing fit after the tube was pulled out. With his hand still tightly clenched on Reid's, Hotch watched as the doctor quickly placed an oxygen mask over Reid's nose and mouth, an action that Reid hardly seemed to notice over his continuous struggles to breathe.

"Almost done, Reid. Almost done," Hotch said quietly to him as the doctor quickly placed her stethoscope on both sides of Reid's chest. Hotch tried to ease the pain in his stomach by telling himself it was going to be okay, but the horrible sight of Reid desperately trying to take in air that was clearly not happening made it difficult to calm down.

"I need you to go on the other side," a nurse said to Hotch quickly. He nodded and after one last squeeze to Reid's hand, he went to the other side of the bed. Here, because of the cast, Hotch decided to lightly place his hand on Reid's right shoulder instead.

He could see the fear growing in Reid's eyes as the medical team began to feel around on his chest, clearly finding the point in which they were going to insert the tube.

"Hey, look at me," Hotch said quietly, pleased to see Reid look at him. "I'm proud of you. We are all proud of you."

Reid, who still seemed to be quite out of it, eventually frowned as if confused.

"You saved yourself and Emily," Hotch continued, bringing up a subject that he knew would have the greatest chance of distracting Reid. Hotch briefly looked up and saw needles beginning to come out.

"We are going to put your hand beside your head to give us better access," a nurse said to Reid, who barely seemed to notice her and simply allowed her to move his arm.

"Prentiss is okay," Hotch continued, trying to maintain Reid's full attention for as long as he could. "A few broken bones but she has been awake and talking."

Reid's eyes seemed to grow wide for a minute, then calmed with a hint of relief.

"This shot is a local anesthetic," the doctor now said as she brought a needle closer to Reid's exposed side.

Hotch noticed Reid's eyes clench in pain for a few seconds before they reopened.

"And you're going to be okay as well," Hotch continued, running out of things to say. "You just have to get through this part."

"We are about to make the incision," the doctor said, "It's going to hurt but you'll be able to breathe easier."

Reid closed his eyes for a minute, then reopened them. Hotch saw the fear in them but he also saw a great deal of bravery, which made him even more proud of the young agent.

The next few minutes seemed like a blur: The incision was made and the tube inserted, all the while Reid's face was clenched in severe pain. It made Hotch sick to his stomach but he did the best he could to be there for Reid. Every now and then Reid's eyes would open and lock on Hotch before clenching them shut again.

Finally, the nurses moved away and the doctor stopped touching Reid and instead looked to the monitors. At this point, Reid seemed absolutely exhausted and Hotch felt about the same.

"Okay," the doctor said with a deep breath, "Looking good so far but we are going to take you for a quick x-ray in a few minutes just to make sure everything looks right inside, okay?"'

Reid nodded very slowly and Hotch hated how small and weak he seemed now.

"Very nicely done, Dr. Reid," the doctor said, "You were very brave."

Hotch was pretty sure Reid tried to smile, but it was impossible to tell with the large mask covering most of his face.

"You did a great job," Hotch said with a sigh.

Reid's head slowly, painfully, turned towards Hotch. He stared lazily and unfocused into Hotch's eyes for a moment before he said something, but Hotch couldn't quite make it out.

"What did you say?"

Reid tried to take a ragged, deep breath and said it again. Though it was still very muffled by the mask, Hotch was quite certain the young man had said "Thank you."

Hotch nodded and replied "You're welcome."

A few moments later, one of the nurses walked up to them. "Hello there, Dr. Reid. I'm Nurse Millie and I'm going to take you for just a few minutes to get an x-ray, okay?"

Reid nodded and the nurse then turned to Hotch. "Feel free to stay here," she said with a smile, "I'll bring him right back."

Hotch thanked her then watched as she wheeled Reid's gurney out of the room. Hotch, now feeling thoroughly drained after the whole ordeal, found a chair and eased himself into it. The nausea he'd been experiencing for the past fifteen minutes or so seemed to subside just a little, and in that moment, Hotch let his head rest in his hands, praying that he would never actually have to do something like this with his own son.

* * *

**EN: **Well, there you are. I have always liked the medical aspects as much as the other stuff so this was maybe more so for me than for you guys (although I really hope some of you liked it as well) but either way the next chapter will be more normal. Also, I hope you guys are okay with Hotch's character. I think the worst review ever would be that one of the characters are OOC but I don't know, I think Hotch could step up to the plate and perform the way he did here if one of them really needed it. Besides, Hotch and Reid have such a lovely father/son dynamic that I didn't have to do much. Still, I hope he wasn't OOC for anyone. Fianlly, the next chapter won't take as long as some of my other chapters but it is finals week and I have to move into another apartment so… bear with me! Love you all and thanks for reading!


	13. Chapter 12

**AN: **Well, I admit to being a horrible person for not updating but it may interest you all to know that I had written a chapter and was basically done with it when I decided that I loathed it and completely started over. Which means this update took that much longer, but I'm positive it's a lot better than what I had. So, apart from that, I won't bore you with lame excuses and simply say that I'm sorry it took so long.

**Warning: **Not beta'ed so all mistake are my own. Also, I had this a few chapters back but here's a **spoiler warning **for the episode _Minimal Loss. _If you haven't seen it and enjoy this episode, you should really look into watching it asap!

Okay, no more chitchat. Read away, my friends!

* * *

Reid stared at the ceiling, making rough estimates of how many holes there were in the tiles above him. It was not the most pleasant way to pass the time, but it certainly helped to keep his mind off of the excruciating pain that filled most of his body, particularly his chest. His arm hurt some but it was nothing compared to his ribcage which was a constant throb and sharp, mind-splitting bolts of pain whenever he tried to move. Then, the most painful of all, was the tube that had been pushed into his chest.

That had been the most painful thing Reid could ever remember happening to him, which was saying something. The anthrax ordeal was also up there, but he had been so sick through most of it that he barely recalled the pain itself. This time, however, he had been wide awake and alert and felt every inch of it sliding into his chest.

Reid clenched his eyes shut, trying his hardest not to think about the pain. He had been offered narcotics but, as always, turned them down. The doctor and nurses had all been confused and tried to insist, but Reid stayed strong. It was not that he necessarily thought having some painkillers would send him into an immediate relapse, because he was pretty sure he would never go to that dark place again. It was simply because he just didn't want to feel that way anymore. Having spent far too long in a drug induced state, Reid was certain that he would much rather endure pain, however excruciating, than to ever feel out of control like that again.

So, as horrible as the constant aching was, it was a reminder that he had once again won the battle against narcotics and he planned to stay that way.

Reid returned his gaze back to the ceiling and wondered where everyone was and how they were doing. The first thing he remembered after finding those two boys on the side of the mountain was waking up and seeing Hotch standing above him. It had been a welcomed sight until he was told they were about to remove one tube and insert another. After all of that, he had been taken away for more tests and that had been the last he saw of Hotch.

Hotch, however, was not his first thought. He couldn't stop thinking about Emily and whether she was alright or not. It seemed like Hotch had mentioned her and Reid was sure it had been good news, but now that he thought back on it, he wasn't sure it had happened at all. He remembered Hotch being there with him, but he could no longer be certain that Hotch had said anything about Emily.

He attempted to sigh but the effort was futile against the oxygen mask which forced fresh oxygen in through his nose and mouth. He hated the thing, to be perfectly honest, but knew it was a necessary evil because even with it, he still found it difficult to breathe.

Frustration mixed with helplessness and pain was beginning to get the best of him. He was tired, he ached, he couldn't sort through his own memories and he kept finding himself assuming the worst had happened to Emily. It was all weighing down on him suddenly and all he wanted was to be curled up at home with a good book. Or better yet, surrounded by his friends, all of whom would be perfectly healthy.

Just then, Reid was pulled from his thoughts by a knock on the door. He looked over and saw one of his nurses pop her head in.

"Hi there, Dr. Reid," she said with welcoming smile, "How are you feeling?"

He began to wonder how he was going to answer that but before he could decide, she began talking again.

"Well enough for some visitors?"

Reid, now feeling his spirits improve almost instantly, nodded his head. He wondered who it would be but didn't really care as long as they were there and had news on Emily. He watched as the nurse turned around and said something to someone behind her, then she opened the door all the way.

Right away, Reid saw Morgan standing behind her, making his way inside first, followed by JJ and Hotch. He couldn't suppress the smile that came as a result of seeing them, even though they couldn't see it under the oxygen mask.

"Alright, Dr. Reid, you just need to remember that your rest comes first and foremost," the nurse warned, "If we don't think you're getting that, they will have to leave."

Reid nodded his head, indicating that he understood then watched as she left.

"Hey man," Morgan greeted, now standing beside Reid's bed. Reid watched as his grin turned into a grimace as he scanned over Reid's body. "Damn kid, you really did a number this time," he continued under his breath.

It was then that Reid remembered the majority of his body from his waist up was exposed which immediately made his cheeks burn with embarrassment. It was odd that he felt this way, but he knew he was small and frail in comparison to Morgan and Hotch and he just didn't really feel comfortable lying there basically naked in front of them.

"How are you feeling, Spence?" JJ asked softly as she lightly placed her warm hand on his arm, an action that calmed him almost instantly. He would never quite understand how she was the only other person in the world besides his mom that could have that effect on him.

Debating on the best way to answer that, he finally decided he would just have to move the mask because he needed to ask about Emily anyway. Slowly, he brought is good hand up to his face, the motion stirring up several flashes of pain, and moved the mask aside.

"M'kay," he slurred, not realizing how difficult it would be to speak. His lungs quickly rebelled and he had to take more frequent short breaths. "How's," he started before taking another breath, "Emily?"

Just then he felt a new hand on his arm and looked up to see Hotch staring down at him. Reid lowered his arm and allowed Hotch to move the mask back in its place over his nose and mouth. And once again, as much as he despised the thing, he was reminded of how useful it was as the needed oxygen filled his body.

"Leave that on, Reid," Hotch warned, sounding much like a father would speak to his son. Suddenly Reid was reminded of how Hotch had held his hand the whole time the doctors worked and felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude overtake him.

"She's fine, kid," Morgan replied. "Banged up a bit but she's fine."

Reid allowed his eyes to close as he took in this wonderful information. They had made it. He honestly didn't know how it was possible given the accident itself all the way up to Emily's fall and his seemingly impossible lonely trek up the mountain.

"You did a very good job, Reid," JJ spoke softly, her words penetrating his mind and making him feel proud and embarrassed at the same time. He could feel them all staring at him which suddenly made him feel slightly uncomfortable but he knew they weren't trying to do that. He still appreciated them being there, of course, he just wanted to change the subject.

He decided to take the time to reposition, knowing it would hurt but also knowing the pain in his back from staying in one position too long was one of the only bits of pain he could fix. So, slowly he slid his good arm back to support himself and then moved his back.

Instantly, intense and searing pain shot through his torso and all the way down his arms and legs. He had clearly moved the wrong way and no doubt irritated one of his broken ribs. He let himself sink back down into the pillows and clenched his eyes shut. His stomach suddenly felt nauseous from the pain and he could feel himself shaking.

He didn't want this. He knew he must look weak in front of his team, but the pain was just too unbearable. He wanted so badly to disappear and sleep until he was all better, no matter how long it took.

Then, as the pain began to subside just a little, Reid noticed something new. Someone was stroking his head, their hand softly running through his unruly hair. He briefly looked up and, of course, saw JJ standing there, concern covering her face. As much as he found physical contact to be uncomfortable, he could not deny that her actions comforted him more than he could have imagined. He also notice Morgan and Hotch both staring at him intensely, their faces both etched with worry, before he closed his eyes again.

The pain was easing and left him absolutely exhausted. He knew that sleep was upon him, should he choose to allow it, and while he wanted to stay awake and talk with his team, he knew the opportunity to sleep was going to be hard to come by with the amount of raw pain he was in. So, with JJ's soothing hand keeping a steady tempo, he gave in to the strong desire to hide from the pain and everything else and drifted off into the darkness.

* * *

Emily stared at the ceiling above her as she laid on her bed in a quiet hospital room somewhere in Colorado. Being a federal agent certainly had its fair share of downfalls and apparently this was one of them. She sighed and attempted to move her leg, a motion that proved to be most painful. She suddenly thought back to her fall and once again felt embarrassed. She knew it wasn't her fault but of all times to be a klutz, it had to be then.

Still, she reminded herself, despite everything, they had both made it safely. Or so she heard. The last update she had gotten was that Reid was out of surgery, which had been successful, but his other lung was possibly going to collapse as well. Of course, should that happen, Emily was fairly certain that he would ultimately be fine given the fact that he was being closely monitored by professionals. Still, both lungs collapsing? That could't be good.

"Agent Prentiss?"

Emily quickly looked over as the soft voice penetrated her dark thoughts and saw a nurse she hadn't seen before. More interesting, however, was the fact that she was pushing an empty wheelchair.

"Come in," Emily replied, confused when she didn't just come in herself.

Emily watched as she pushed the chair in but her attention was redirected to Rossi who was following her in.

"Hello again," he greeted cheerfully, which Emily took as a good sign.

"Hi," she said with a smile, "what's going on?"

"Well," the nurse began before Rossi could, "I'm Nurse Emma, and I'm actually Dr. Reid's nurse but after talking to Agent Rossi here and your doctor, I've been given the green light to take you to see D. Reid. If you're up for it, that is."

Emily's eyes darted from the sweet young nurse to Rossi as if she expected one of them to say they were just joking. Emily nodded her head quickly, but regretted it after the movement made her queasy. She hid it from the nurse, however, and just made a mental not to not move too quickly as it irritated her head injury.

"Thought you might want to get out," Rossi said with a smirk.

"Yes," Emily replied truthfully. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me," he said quickly before pointing to Nurse Emma. "She's the one who fought your doctor."

Emily laughed as she allowed he nurse to slowly help her into the wheelchair. "Well, thank you Nurse Emma. It's greatly appreciated."

"It's no problem," she said as she continued to get Emily situated for transport. "I've been listening to the news and rooting for you two these past couple days. And now I can actually help out."

Emily smiled at the nurse's words, only then realizing that their story was on the news and therefore people knew both her and Reid. Or, to some degree that is.

Either way, Emily sat back and enjoyed the ride as she left her little room. She was beyond happy mostly because the fact that they were allowing her to see Reid must mean he was doing alright. In addition to that, she was just happy to get out of that bed. She couldn't wait until she could walk again, but getting out of the bed was a great first step.

Emily had already lost track of where they had gone upon leaving her room but when they did stop in front of Reid's room, Emily was sure it couldn't have been much further from her own. Nurse Emma softly knocked on the door and a few moments later, the door opened to reveal Hotch. He looked down at Emily and she suddenly wished more than ever that she was able to stand.

"Good to see you out of bed," he welcomed with the hint of a smile which meant a lot coming from Hotch.

"Good to be out of there," she responded while Hotch stepped aside and she was wheeled further in.

It was then that she got her first glimpse of Reid and the sight was less than pretty. The most alarming thing was that his torso was almost entirely exposed except for some bandages around his ribcage. Otherwise, all she saw was either pale or bruised skin. Then there was the oversize cast which seemed to have eaten his arm and was currently working on his shoulder. However, as she was wheeled even closer, the oxygen mask covering the majority of his face made the air catch in her lungs.

She didn't know what she had been expecting and quite honestly, she should've been thankful that there wasn't a tube coming from his mouth instead because that was far worse. Still, the large mask made him look even smaller, weaker and broken. And that didn't do Reid justice, especially not the Reid she had seen on the side of that mountain.

But when his eyes met hers, she saw nothing except Reid and the fact that he was okay. His eyes, the only part visible really, looked as though he had recently woken up but she could see relief in them as well and that was certainly something they had in common.

"We'll leave you two alone for a bit," Rossi said from somewhere behind her but she just nodded and responded absentmindedly with "Thank you."

She heard them leaving and understood why they had but she suddenly wished they hadn't left. She didn't know what to say to him, especially since he couldn't really talk back.

"Hey Reid," she said softly with a nervous smile. Why was she nervous? She didn't understand her emotions at all currently.

He lifted his left hand a little and waved, an action that made Emily smile. She had been so worried ever since he had left and quite honestly she was certain there was a point or two in which both of them thought they would never make it out alive. And yet here they were.

She took a deep breath and decided to address the guilt still gnawing at her.

"Reid, listen," she began, looking down at her hands, "Obviously, I want to thank you. I don't know how, but you managed to find help and ultimately saved both of our lives, so thank you."

She glanced at him quickly and saw that he looked slightly confused and slightly concerned.

"But," she continued, looking away once more, "I also want to say I'm sorry. You almost died and…"

She was cut short, however, when she felt a warm hand appear on top of her own. She looked at her hand, which had been holding on to the metal that ran along his bed, and sure enough, Reid had placed his hand on hers. It was odd for Reid to initiate any physical contact and Emily wasn't sure if it was because he had no other way to get her attention, or if he had simply wanted to grab her hand. Either way, it got her attention.

Slowly, she watched as he removed his hand from hers and brought it up to the mask on his face. She knew what he was doing and briefly considered stopping him, but she saw the determination in his eyes and decided to let him have this one.

"You remember," he rasped out before taking another breath, "the compound?"

He took another breath and Emily frowned and found herself wondering if maybe he was delirious.

"Cyrus," he said before putting the mask back on for a few seconds.

Suddenly it dawned on her what he was talking about and she had an idea where this conversation was going.

"Yes, I do," she replied softly.

He pushed the mask away once again and said, "What you said." Breath. "On the plane."

"Yes, I remember," she said quickly, getting worried at how hard it was for him to breathe.

"We're even," he finished before sliding the mask over his nose and mouth again and letting his hand fall back to his side.

Emily smiled and found herself somewhat speechless. Reid was known for being a genius of pretty much everything except human emotions but this time, he had Emily floored. She greatly appreciated the simplicity of what he said but the strong meaning behind it. The two of them had managed to escape another sticky situation together which would only make them strong coworkers and friends.

"Okay," she replied, still smiling. "I can live with that."

She took a deep breath and decided that he was probably as eager for a change in topic as she was.

"Why don't we turn on the TV?"

He nodded so she grabbed the remote controller from his bedside table and flipped on the TV.

"…_Animal Planet. Next up are tales of survival in _'I Shouldn't Be Alive'" the announcer said on the first channel that popped up. Emily quickly glanced at Reid who looked a bit wide-eyed before shaking his head.

Emily laughed and replied, "Agreed." She flipped the channel again and was greeted with the news and listened to the anchor.

"_Today's top stories: A fire burns down a home here in our own community and we have just received some new details on the two missing agents who were found only…_"

She quickly changed the channel and turned to Reid.

"I couldn't handle that," she said truthfully, knowing that a news broadcast on herself and Reid was a bit too soon and way too weird for her to handle. Thankfully she saw Reid nod in agreement.

She looked up at the TV and smiled at what was now on.

"How about some Spongebob Squarepants?"

Emily couldn't suppress the laugh that came out upon seeing the thoroughly confused look on Reid's face. Clearly he had never heard of Spongebob.

"That settles it," she said between laughs. "Spongebob it is."

She then sat back and watched the lighthearted cartoon, deciding that it was exactly what she needed at the moment, even if she normally hated all things animated. She glanced at Reid every now and then and was amused to see him watching it carefully, as though analyzing it and pinpointing all of the impossible details of the show.

Finally, things felt normal. Finally, she could relax and all of this meant that finally, _finally _they were that much closer to getting out of Colorado and back to the city where she belonged.

As Spongebob continued to play, Emily found herself laughing at something different. Of all the horrifying people that they had come up against, and conquered, it was mother nature that had almost done them both in. Give them any serial killer and they could profile them and probably even catch them, but throw in survival in nature and suddenly you have a fight to tough to call one way or the other.

Emily glanced over at Reid who was now fast asleep looking the most peaceful she had seen him in days and she smiled. Well, it may have been a close fight but in the end, the profilers had overcome nature for the win. At least this time.

But then again, Emily had no intention of going for a round two and she was fairly certain Reid felt the same. No, she would stick to serial killers and perverts and leave nature to the professionals.

With this decided, she relaxed into her wheelchair and focused on the talking yellow sponge and reveled in the peace she felt inside of her.

Despite all odds, everything and everyone was okay and that's all she could ask for.

* * *

**EN: **I'm awful at endings but I gave it my best shot. Truly, thanks to everyone who stuck with me. I know it had some glitches but overall I'm proud of it and have certainly learned a lot from it that will improve my writing in the future. But not as much as all of the reviews and input from you guys, so thank you so much whether you read and reviewed or just read, I'm eternally grateful!

For those who haven't seen Minimal Loss and want to know what that conversation was, here you go:

Emily: "Hey, I need you to listen to me. What Cyrus did to me is not your fault. It was my decision and I would do it again. Do you hear me?"  
Reid nods.  
Emily: "Thank you."

Bye for now, pretty people!


End file.
